i
Standards of Practice
Canadian Counselling and
Psychotherapy Association
___________________________________________
Standards of Practice
5th Edition
___________________________________________
Approved by
CCPA Board of Directors
April 2015
ii Standards of Practice
Copyright © 2015 by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association
All rights reserved.
Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association
6-203 Colonnade Rd S
Ottawa, Ontario K2E 7K3
ISBN 978-0-9697966-8-8
Printed in Canada
Standards of Practice
iii
Canadian Counselling and
Psychotherapy Association
___________________________________________
Standards of Practice
___________________________________________
The Standards of Practice (2015) was revised from the 2008 edition and
updated by a CCPA Committee.
CCPA would like to acknowledge the original authors of the 2002 version
of CCPA’s Code of Ethics: Glenn W. Sheppard, William E. Schulz, and
Sylvia-Anne McMahon.
This document would not be possible without the collaboration, consultation,
and review processes undertaken by the following individuals and groups:
Dr. Cristelle Audet, Chairperson, CCPA Ethics Committee – Queries Division
Dr. Ron Lehr, President Emeritus, CCPA
Dr. Lorna Martin, Past President, CCPA
Dr. Simon Nuttgens, Chairperson, CCPA Ethics Committee – Complaints
Division
Dr. William Schulz, Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba
Dr. Blythe Shepard, President, CCPA
Dr. Glenn Sheppard, Ethics Amicus, CCPA, President Emeritus CCPA
CCPA Ethics Committee
Contributing authors to Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Experience:
Ethics-Based Issues and Cases (2014)
CCPA Board of Directors 2013-2015
Standards of Practice
v
Acknowledgements
The following documents were consulted in the process of updating the CCPA
Standards of Practice:
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (2001). AAMFT
code of ethics. Retrieved from http://www.aamft.org/imis15/Content/Legal_
Ethics/Code_of_Ethics.aspx
American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of ethics. Author:
Alexandria, VA.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists
and code of conduct. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.
apa.org/ethics/code/
Australian Psychological Society. (2004). Guidelines for psychological practice in
rural and remote settings. Melbourne, AU: Author.
British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists. (2003). Guidelines for
online counselling and psychotherapy. British Association for Counselling and
Psychotherapy.
Canadian Association for Music Therapy (1999). Code of ethics. Wilfred
Laurier University: Waterloo, ON.
Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (2013). CASP/ACSS. Code of ethics for
spiritual care professionals Retrieved from http://209.162.178.174/manual.
asp?Chapter=5
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada. (2010). Tri-Council policy statement: Ethical conduct for
research involving humans. Ottawa, ON: Authors. Retrieved from http://
www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/pdf/eng/tcps2/TCPS_2_FINAL_Web.pdf
Canadian Psychological Association. (2000). Canadian code of ethics for
psychologists – 3rd edition. Retrieved from http://www.cpa.ca/docs/File/
Ethics/CPA-Code%202000%20EngRe-format%20Dec2013.pdf
Canadian Council for Career Development. (2010). Canadian standards and
guidelines for career development practitioners: Code of ethics. Retrieved from
http://www.career-dev-guidelines.org/career_dev/
Ontario Art Therapy Association. (2003). May 2003 OATA standards of practice
and conduct. Retrieved from http://www.oata.ca/userfiles/ETHICSTD04-1.
pdf
Ontario College of Social Workers. (2011). Code of ethics and standards of
practice handbook. Retrieved from
http://www.ocswssw.org/docs/codeofethicsstandardsofpractice.pdf
vi Standards of Practice
L’Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d’orientation du Québec. (2010). Code de
déontologie. Retrieved from
https://www.orientation.qc.ca/ProtectionPublic/CodeDeontologieReglement.
aspx
National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Center for Credentialing and
Education, Inc. (2001). The practice of internet counselling.
Retrieved from http://www.cce-global.org/Assets/ethics/internetCounseling.
pdf
The Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ). Code of ethics. (2011). Journal for social
action in counseling and psychology, 3(2), 1-21.
Retrieved from http://www.psysr.org/jsacp/Ibrahim-v3n2_1-21.pdf
New Zealand Association of Counsellors/Te Roopu Kaiwhiriwhiri o Aotearoa
(2002/2012). Code of ethics. A framework for ethical practice.
Retrieved from http://www.nzac.org.nz/code_of_ethics.cfm
Standards of Practice
vii
Table of Contents
Standards of Practice.......................... i
Standards of Practice........................ iii
Acknowledgements............................ v
Preamble .......................................... ix
A. Professional Responsibility............ 1
General Responsibility.............................1
Respect for Rights ..................................2
Boundaries of Competence.....................3
Professional Impairment.........................4
Supervision and Consultation..................4
Representation of Professional
Qualifications..........................................5
Responsibility to Counsellors and
Other Professionals Related to
Unethical Behaviour................................6
Responsibility to Clients..........................7
Sexual Harassment..................................8
Sensitivity to Diversity.............................8
Extension of Ethical Responsibilities.......9
B. Counselling Relationships............ 10
Primary Responsibility...........................10
Confidentiality.......................................10
Children and Confidentiality..................12
Duty to Warn.........................................14
Informed Consent..................................15
Touch in Counselling.............................17
Children and Persons with
Diminished Capacity..............................18
Maintenance of Records........................19
Access to Records .................................23
Dual and Multiple Relationships...........24
Respecting Diversity..............................26
Consulting with Other Professionals.....28
Relationships with Former Clients.........28
Sexual Intimacies with Clients...............29
Multiple Clients: Couple, Family and
Group Counselling.................................31
Multiple Helpers....................................32
Group Work...........................................33
Computer Use and Other
Electronic Technologies.........................34
Services using Distance Delivery,
Social Media, and Electronic
Technologies..........................................35
Referrals................................................37
Termination of Counselling....................38
C. Consulting and Private Practice... 39
General Responsibility...........................39
Undiminished Responsibility and
Liability Incorporation...........................40
Accurate Advertising.............................40
Consultative Relationships....................42
Informed Consent..................................42
Respect for Privacy................................43
Conflict of Interest.................................44
Sponsorship and Recruitment................44
Private Practice Records........................45
Services at the Request of
Third Parties..........................................45
Fees and Billing Arrangements..............45
D. Evaluation and Assessment ......... 47
General Orientation...............................47
Evaluation and Assessment
Competence..........................................48
Administrative and Supervisory
Conditions.............................................49
Use of Technology in Assessment
and Evaluation......................................50
Appropriateness of Evaluation
and Assessment.....................................51
Sensitivity to Diversity When
Assessing and Evaluating......................52
Reporting Evaluation and
Assessment Results...............................53
Release of Evaluation and
Assessment Data...................................53
Integrity of Evaluation and
Assessment Instruments........................54
viii E. Research and Publications............ 56
Researcher Responsibility .....................56
Subject Welfare ....................................58
Informed Consent and Recruitment
of Research Participants .......................59
Voluntary Participation..........................59
Research and Counsellor Education .....60
Research and Confidentiality ................61
Use of Confidential Information for
Didactic or Other Purposes....................62
Further Research...................................63
Research Sponsors ...............................63
Reviewers .............................................64
Reporting Results..................................64
Research Contributions.........................65
Submission for Publication ...................66
Standards of Practice
F. Clinical Supervision, Counsellor
Education and Training .................... 67
General Responsibility...........................67
Boundaries of Competence...................69
Ethical Orientation ...............................70
Clarification of Roles and
Responsibilities.....................................71
Welfare of Clients..................................73
Program Orientation..............................74
Relational Boundaries...........................75
Obligation to Inform..............................77
Self-Development and
Self-Awareness......................................78
Dealing with Personal Issues.................78
Self-Growth Activities............................79
G. Guidelines for Dealing with
Subpoenas and Court Orders....... 81
H. Guidelines for the Conduct
of Custody Evaluations ............... 83
References........................................ 85
Standards of Practice
ix
Preamble
These standards of practice were developed by the Canadian Counselling and
Psychotherapy Association to provide direction and guidelines to enable its
members, and other counsellors and psychotherapists in Canada1, and counsellors-in-training, to conduct themselves in a professional manner consistent with
the CCPA Code of Ethics. They are also intended to serve the following purposes:
• To support statutory and professional self-regulation by establishing a
shared set of expectations related to the many areas of counselling-related
activities and responsibilities;
• To protect the public by establishing a set of expectations for quality
counselling services and for the maintenance of counsellor accountability;
• To establish a set of expectations for ethically competent professional
behaviour which counsellors may use to monitor, evaluate, and work to
improve their professional practices;
• To serve as the foundation for addressing professional queries and ethicsrelated complaints, and
• To establish expectations for counsellor education, supervision, and to
provide support for ongoing professional development.
These standards of practice are directed primarily at the professional conduct
of counsellors. However, they extend to the personal actions of counsellors
when they undermine society’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the
profession and when there is reasonable doubt about the ability or a counsellor
to act in a professionally competent and ethical manner.
Throughout Standards of Practice, there are text boxes inserted to succinctly
capture some core ethical concept, an ethical principle, or concept from case
law, and so forth. These insertions are intended to reflect some of the richness
and diversity of the historical and contemporary strivings that constitute the
ethical and legal grounding for our professional code of conduct.
All of the standards of practice are pinned to the generic entry-to-practice level
as determined by the nationally validated competency profile for the counselling profession in Canada. Because the standards of practice are generic in
nature, they do not anticipate every practice situation, modality of practice,
or address all of the ethical challenges with which counsellors are confronted.
Therefore, the development of standards will necessarily remain an ongoing
responsibility to which all counsellors can contribute. Despite the value of
these standards of practice, the ultimate responsibility for acting ethically
depends on the integrity and commitment of each counsellor to do so.
1 Throughout this publication, the term counsellor shall refer to various titles used by practitioners involved in
the activity of counselling including, but not restricted to, the terms psychotherapist, counselling therapist,
mental health therapist, clinical counsellor, career counsellor, conseiller/conseillère d'orientation, vocational
guidance counsellor, marriage and family therapist, orienteur, orienteur professionnel, psychoeducateur.
1
Standards of Practice
A. Professional Responsibility
CODE OF ETHICS
A1
General
Responsibility
Counsellors maintain high
standards of professional
competence and ethical
behaviour, and recognize
the need for continuing
education and personal
care in order to meet this
responsibility.
(See also C1, F1)
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
General Responsibility
Counsellors maintain high standards of professional
competence by attending to their personal well-being,
by participating in continuing professional education,
and by supporting the development and delivery
of continuing education within the counselling
profession.
Counsellors invest time and effort in understanding
the CCPA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice,
and avoid agreements, work environments, and other
circumstances in which they would knowingly have
to violate these ethical standards. In settings where
policies violate these ethical standards, counsellors
work to educate employers about their ethical obligations and work to make positive changes in these
settings.
Counsellors should become familiar with the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and,
depending on their work setting and type of services
provided, counsellors may need to be familiar with
some, or all, of the following federal and provincial
legislation:
• mental health acts
• child protection acts
• public schools/education administration acts
• privacy acts
• criminal codes
• marriage, divorce and matrimonial property
acts
• criminal youth justice act
• freedom of information acts
• mediation acts
• professional statutory regulations
2
Standards of Practice
A2
Respect for Rights
Respect for Rights
Counsellors understand and respect the rights and
freedoms of those with whom they work and others,
particularly those who may be disenfranchised or
negatively affected by political, personal, social,
economic, or familial histories that may continue
to resonate across the lifespan. These circumstances
may include, but are not restricted to, colonization,
poverty, oppression, violence, structural injustice,
war, or discriminatory practices.
Counsellors participate
in only those practices
which are respectful of
the legal, civic, and moral
rights of others, and act
to safeguard the dignity
and rights of their clients,
students, and research
participants.
Counsellors convey respect for human dignity, principles of equity and social justice, and speak out or take
other appropriate actions against practices, policies,
laws, and regulations that directly or indirectly bring
harm to others or violate their human rights.
Counsellors refrain from providing professional
information to individuals who have expressed an
intention to use it to violate the human rights of
others. This standard of practice may NOT be interpreted or used to justify or defend any human rights
violation.
Counsellors practice in a manner congruent with the
overarching principles of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child to which Canada is a signatory.
Counsellors respect due process and follow procedures based on principles of social justice and principles of equity in all their professional activities, such
as those associated with counselling, consultation,
evaluation, adjudication, peer reviews and other types
of review.
Fiduciary Relationship
A fiduciary relationship is one founded on trust or confidence relied on by one person
in the integrity and fidelity of another. A fiduciary has a duty to act primarily for the
client’s benefit in matters connected with the undertaking and not for their own personal
interest. Black’s Law Dictionary (2004)
Standards of Practice
3
A3
Boundaries of Competence
Boundaries of
Competence
Counsellors restrict their counselling services to
those areas within the boundaries of their competence by virtue of verifiable education, training,
supervised experience, and other appropriate professional experience. They also restrict their services
based on their role and function, their legal authority
and their jurisdiction of employment.
Counsellors limit their
counselling services and
practices to those which
are within their professional competence by
virtue of their education
and professional experience, and consistent with
any requirements for
provincial and national
credentials. They refer to
other professionals, when
the counselling needs of
clients exceed their level of
competence. (See also F2)
Counsellors who wish to extend their professional
services ensure competence in any additional areas
of expertise through extra verifiable education or
training in this area and provide service only after
they have secured adequate supervision from supervisors with demonstrative expertise in the practice
area. Supervisors should have a high level of expertise
in the area that is certified by an independent process
such as: certification, registration, or licensing.
When counsellors are faced with clients whose needs
exceed the counsellors’ boundaries of competence,
they make appropriate referrals for their clients.
Counsellors provide appropriate contact and support
for their clients during any transitional period associated with referring them to other sources of professional help.
When counsellors find themselves in circumstances
in which access to referral agents is limited, they seek
consultation. For instance, rural and remote practice
is typically broad, generalist, and eclectic because
of the diverse population and range of client issues,
combined with lack of resources. Counsellors living
and working in rural and remote communities need
to remain cognizant of the limits to their competence
while working in communities that have few, if any,
referral possibilities, including communities such
as those that are closed, enclaved, isolated, rural,
northern or remote. Taking advantage of electronic
means of consultation, referral, continuous learning,
and supervision, where available, is recommended.
Since consultation with the other professional is often
necessary in order to provide the best services for
clients, all contributing helping professionals may
agree to collaborate with each other.
4
Standards of Practice
Professional Impairment
Counsellors should take steps to appropriately limit
their professional responsibilities when their physical,
mental or personal circumstances are such that they
have diminished capacity to provide competent
services to all or to particular clients. Counsellors in
such situations may seek consultation and supervision and may need to limit, suspend, or terminate
their professional services.
A4
Supervision and
Consultation
Counsellors take reasonable steps to obtain
supervision and/or consultation with respect to their
counselling practices and,
particularly, with respect
to doubts or uncertainties
which may arise during
their professional work.
(See also A3, B10, C4, C7)
Supervision and Consultation
All counsellors should obtain supervision and/or
consultation for their counselling practices; this is
particularly true with respect to doubts or uncertainties, which may arise during their professional work.
In school settings, counsellors should arrange regular
supervision and/or consultation with other counsellors in their school or in their school district or
region. Counsellors in other agencies/institutions
and/or in private practice should organize their
supervision with other qualified (certified or licensed)
counselling professionals.
Counsellors have an obligation to be appropriately
accountable to their employers for their professional
work. Supervision of counsellors should be conducted
by someone other than a person who is responsible
for evaluating their work (such as a person in a line
management position). If such a situation cannot be
avoided, then the counsellor should also have access
to independent opportunities for supervision and/or
consultations.
When counsellors seek professional consultation, they
make every effort to do so in ways that will protect
the identity of the client. If the client’s identity cannot
be protected, then the client’s informed consent must
be sought before the consultation. When consulting,
counsellors make every effort to ensure that the identity of the client will not create any dual relationship
dilemmas for the person with whom they consult.
Secretarial/clerical assistants, supervisees, and
all others who work with counsellors’ confidential records have a responsibility similar to that
Standards of Practice
5
of the counsellors with respect to confidentiality.
Counsellors must take all necessary steps to guarantee
that client confidentiality is respected and maintained
by others with whom they work and consult.
A5
Representation of
Professional
Qualifications
Counsellors do claim or
imply only those professional qualifications which
they possess, and are
responsible for correcting
any known misrepresentation of their qualifications
by others.
Representation of Professional Qualifications
Counsellors should display their CCC certificate and/or
any other professional regulatory certificate at a prominent location at their work site and place their Code of
Ethics in the waiting room at their work site, or display
it in any other manner that would allow it to be readily
seen by consumers of their professional services.
Counsellors shall not use CCPA membership and/or
any other professional membership as a designation on
business cards, door plates, in advertisements, directories, nor use it in any other way intended to advertise
their professional service unless it is clearly stipulated
that the member is “a Professional Member of the CCPA
possessing a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC)
designation” OR “a non-certified Professional Member
of the CCPA”. This distinction is required because
membership admission does not evaluate a member’s
qualifications to practice counselling, whereas the certification process does. Where provincial certification/
licensure exists, counsellors may also use these designations to advertise their professional service, and only in
accordance with the statutory regulations pertaining to
the use of professional designations.
When counsellors are involved in public activities,
including the making of public statements, they do
so in such a way that clarifies whether they are acting
as private citizens, as designated spokespersons of a
particular association, or as representatives of the counselling profession.
Counsellors shall not misrepresent nor falsely
enhance their professional qualifications, experience
or performance. When counsellors become aware of
misuse or misrepresentation of their work, they take
reasonable steps to correct or minimize the misuse or
misrepresentation.
Counsellors avoid making public statements that
are false, deceptive, or misleading. For example, it
6
A6
Standards of Practice
would be inappropriate for graduates from a counselling specialty program housed in an educational
psychology department to refer to themselves as
counselling psychologists. Counsellors also avoid
other statements that could easily be misunderstood
by virtue of what they say about their professional
qualifications and services or by what they omit to say
about them.
Responsibility to Counsellors and Other
Responsibility to
Counsellors and Other Professionals Related to Unethical Behaviour
When counsellors have reasonable grounds to
Professionals
believe that another counsellor is acting unethically,
Counsellors understand
they have an obligation to take appropriate action.
that ethical behaviour
The course of action is dependent upon a variety
among themselves and
of factors, including whether or not the counsellor
with other professionals is whose behaviour is in question is a CCPA member.
expected at all times.
First, if it is appropriate to do so, they should
approach the counsellor in an effort to address the
concern. The following guidelines are suggested to
assist counsellors when they have such concerns:
A7
Unethical Behaviour
by Other Counsellors
Counsellors have an
obligation when they
have serious doubts as to
the ethical behaviour of
another counsellor, to seek
an informal resolution
with the counsellor, when
feasible and appropriate.
When an informal resolution is not appropriate or
feasible, or is unsuccessful,
counsellors report their
concerns to the CCPA
Ethics Committee.
• When counsellors hear rumours from others
about the possible unethical conduct of another
counsellor, they make every effort to encourage
the complainant to take appropriate action
with respect to their concern, and they avoid
participating in the spread of rumours. In the
case of disclosures about non-CCPA members,
counsellors inform the complainant of his/her
rights to file a complaint with that professional’s
association or regulatory college.
• When counsellors are informed by clients
of the possible unethical conduct of another
counsellor, they assist the client in fully evaluating their concern and with their decision of
whether or not to take action. In the case of
disclosures about non-CCPA members, counsellors inform the client of his/her rights to file a
complaint with that professional’s association
or regulatory college. In the case of unethical
conduct by another counsellor who is a member
of CCPA, such action may include contacting
the CCPA Ethics Committee.
7
Standards of Practice
• Counsellors report their own concerns about the
unethical conduct of another counsellor who is
a member of CCPA directly to the CCPA Ethics
Committee when they have directly observed
the misconduct and they fail to achieve a satisfactory resolution of the issue with the counsellor
concerned, or because the nature of the suspected
violation warrants this direct action. When doing
so, they take into account the confidentiality of
client information. Suspected statutory violations, such as child abuse, should be reported
both to the local authorities and to the CCPA
Ethics Committee. Because of the differences
in provincial and territorial laws, counsellors
need to be aware of which local authority is most
appropriate in their area.
• When counsellors have direct knowledge that
another counsellor has committed a serious
ethical violation, they must report it and be
prepared to participate in an ethics hearing, if
asked to do so.
A8
Responsibility to
Clients
When counsellors have
reasonable grounds to
believe that a client has
an ethical complaint
about the conduct of a
CCPA member, counsellors
inform the client of the
CCPA Procedures for
Processing Complaints of
Ethical Violations and how
to access these procedures.
(See also A7)
• The CCPA Ethics Committee acts only on
written, signed complaints made against counsellors who are CCPA members. Any individual
with reasonable grounds to suspect that a CCPA
member has committed an ethical violation may
submit such a complaint. If the Ethics Committee
deems it appropriate to proceed with an investigation, the CCPA member who is the subject of
the complaint will be informed of the nature and
details of the complaint and the identity of the
individual who has submitted the complaint.
Responsibility to Clients
Counsellors act in the best interests of their clients
and when they have reasonable grounds to believe
their client has an ethical complaint about the
conduct of a CCPA member, they provide the client
with a copy of the CCPA Procedures for Processing
Complaints of Ethical Violations or direct them to the
appropriate page on the CCPA website.
Clients will have varying degrees of understanding
of their role in the ethical complaints procedure. Counsellors should answer any questions
8
Standards of Practice
clients might have and explain the procedures
and the processes involved for clients so that they
clearly understand.
Clients should understand that a CCPA member may
break confidentiality to defend themselves to the
Ethics Committee. Where appropriate, counsellors
can support clients through the complaints process.
A9
Sexual Harassment
Sexual Harassment
Counsellors do not condone or engage in sexual
harassment. Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, sexual solicitation, unnecessary touching or patting, compromising invitations,
the unwelcome telling of sexually explicit jokes,
the display of sexually explicit materials, suggestive sexual comments and other verbal and physical
behaviour directed towards a person by an individual
who knows or ought reasonably to know that such
behaviour is unwanted, offensive, or contributes to an
unpleasant or hostile working environment.
Counsellors do not
condone or engage in
sexual harassment, which
is defined as deliberate or
repeated verbal or written
comments, gestures, or
physical contacts of a
sexual nature.
Sensitivity to Diversity
A10
Sensitivity to
Diversity
Counsellors strive to
understand and respect
the diversity of their
clients, including differences related to age,
ethnicity, culture, gender,
disability, religion, sexual
orientation and socioeconomic status. (See also
B9, D10)
Counsellors should strive to grow in their understanding of diversity within Canada’s pluralistic
society. This understanding should receive attention in counsellor education programs and be part
of continuing education experiences. Such understanding should be based on knowledge of diversity
and of the ways in which differences based on ways
in which ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and so forth, can affect attitudes, values
and behaviour.
Counsellors should strive to understand the diversity
within the communities in which they work and in
which their clients reside. They should address or take
action against unequal power relationships and work
with clients to locate supports and resources to enable
clients to advocate for themselves and others.
Standards of Practice
9
Extension of Ethical Responsibilities
A11
When counsellors are employed by or contracted
to provide services through a third party, they take
proactive steps to address any ethical or practiceCounselling services
based requirements of the third party that have the
and products provided
potential to conflict with CCPA’s Code of Ethics
by counsellors through
and Standards of Practice. When confronted with
classroom instruction,
demands from an organization with which they are
public lectures, demonstra- affiliated or from an employer that is in conflict with
tions, publications, radio
the CCPA Code of Ethics, they take steps to clarify
and television programs,
the nature of the conflict, assert their commitment to
computer technology and
the Code, and to the extent possible, work to resolve
other media must meet
the conflict that will allow adherence to their Code of
the appropriate ethical
Ethics (See also C2).
Extension of Ethical
Responsibilities
standards consistent with
this Code of Ethics.
Counsellors cooperate in ethics investigations of
complaints made against them and with the appropriate related proceedings. Failure to cooperate may
be considered in itself an ethical violation. However,
mounting an appropriate defense against an ethical
complaint and taking full advantage of the opportunities afforded in an adjudication process to do so,
does not constitute non-cooperation.
A malpractice claim must meet the following conditions:
•Fiduciary relationship established (client-counsellor or client-counsellor-supervisor)
•Counsellor or supervisor conduct does not meet standard of care
(breach of standard = negligence)
•Client or supervisee suffers demonstrable harm or injury
•
Causal relationship confirmed (proximate cause)
DUTY→BREACH→DAMAGE→CAUSATION
(Truscott & Crook, 2004)
10 Standards of Practice
B. Counselling Relationships
CODE OF ETHICS
B1
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
Primary Responsibility
Primary Responsibility The fact that this ethical article is first in this “counselling relationships” section underscores the need
Counsellors have a primary
for counsellors to be mindful of their primarily
responsibility to respect
obligation to help clients. Counsellors enter into a
the integrity and promote
collaborative dialogue with their clients to ensure
the welfare of their clients.
understanding of counselling plans intended to
They work collaboratively
address goals that are part of their therapeutic alliwith clients to devise
ance. Counsellors inform their clients of the purpose
integrated, individualized
and the nature of any counselling, evaluation, training
counselling plans that offer or education service so that clients can exercise
a reasonable promise of
informed choice with respect to participation.
success and are consistent
with the abilities and
circumstances of clients.
B2
Confidentiality
Counselling relationships
and information resulting
therefrom are kept confidential. However, there are
the following exceptions
to confidentiality:
(i) when disclosure is
required to prevent clear
and imminent danger to
the client or others;
(ii) when legal requirements demand that
confidential material be
revealed;
Counselling plans and progress are reviewed with
clients to determine their continued appropriateness
and efficacy.
The counsellors’ primary responsibility incorporates
most aspects of CCPA’s six ethical principles:
• Beneficence
• Nonmaleficence
• Fidelity
• Justice
• Autonomy
• Societal Interest
Confidentiality
Counsellors have a fundamental ethical responsibility
to take every reasonable precaution to respect and to
safeguard their clients’ right to confidentiality, and to
protect from inappropriate disclosure, any information generated within the counselling relationship.
This responsibility begins during the initial informed
consent process before commencing work with the
client, continues after a client’s death, and extends to
disclosing whether or not a particular individual is in
fact a client.
This general requirement for counsellors to keep
(iii) when a child is in need all information confidential is not absolute since
disclosure may be required in any of the following
of protection. (See also
circumstances:
B15, B17, E6, E7, E8)
11
Standards of Practice
• There is an imminent danger to an identifiable
third party or to self;
• When a counsellor has reasonable cause to
suspect abuse or neglect of a child;
• When a disclosure is ordered by a court;
• When a client requests disclosure, or
• When a client files a complaint or claims professional liability by the counsellor in a lawsuit.
Counsellors should discuss confidentiality with their
clients and any third party payers prior to beginning
counselling and discuss limits throughout the counselling process with clients, as necessary. This includes
clients who are mandated or are incarcerated. They
also inform clients of the limits of confidentiality
and inform them of any foreseeable circumstances in
which information may have to be disclosed.
Secretarial/clerical assistants, supervisees, treatment
teams, and all others who work with a counsellor
have a responsibility similar to that of the counsellor
with respect to confidentiality. Counsellors must take
all necessary steps to guarantee that client confidentiality is respected and maintained by others with
whom they work and consult.
People are more likely to know each other in small
communities and the counsellor is more likely to
meet up with clients in non-professional situations.
Practitioners in small communities protect private
knowledge, and ensure confidentiality in the face of
intricate social networks and lines of communication that lead to the availability of informally-gained
knowledge. Counsellors need to be mindful of
culturally appropriate actions that relate to confidentiality when working in rural, remote, northern, and
linguistic/cultural enclaves in urban centres.
Mandated and incarcerated clients retain their
autonomy and can refuse services. Counsellors have
the same responsibilities for such clients regarding
confidentiality and informed consent. Counsellors
must ensure that the client, whether mandated or
not and whether incarcerated or not, understands all
reporting requirements, any information that will be
12 Standards of Practice
shared and with whom, and the consequences if they
do not take part in counselling.
Confidentiality belongs to the client, not the counsellor.
Children and Confidentiality
Counsellors who work with children have the difficult
task of protecting the minor’s right to privacy while
at the same time respecting the parent’s or guardian’s
right to information. Counsellors can be assisted in
such dilemmas by the following considerations:
• Parents and guardians do not have an absolute
right to know all the details of their child’s
counselling, but rather, each request should be
evaluated on a ‘need to know’ basis.
• Each school, as well as other work environments, which provides counselling services to
children, should establish a protocol that should
involve counsellors and other appropriate
persons in adjudicating parental or guardian
requests for information about their child’s
counselling information.
• As a child grows and matures, the parent’s
right to know will diminish and may even
terminate when the child achieves the capacity
and sufficient understanding to give informed
consent.
• Counsellors who work with children should
be particularly familiar with and guided by the
statutory requirements within the province/
territory in which they work regarding
disclosure of confidential information related
to children. This includes being informed of
emerging ethical and legal obligations and
attitudes with respect to the privacy rights of
children.
When counsellors believe that a disclosure of a child’s
counselling information is not in the child’s best
interests, the following actions may be helpful:
13
Standards of Practice
• Invoke the protocol established within the
workplace for addressing such information
requests.
• Discuss the parental/guardian request for
information with the child and determine his/
her attitude with respect to disclosure.
• Explain to the parents/guardians the merits of
respecting their child’s desire for privacy if the
child is not willing to disclose.
• Conduct a joint meeting between the child and
parents/ guardians, managed by the counsellor.
• Disclose information only after the client has
been informed, and limit disclosure to the
information requested.
• In some cases, such as cases of suspected abuse,
counsellors must not comply by law with a
parental/guardian request for disclosure. In such
circumstances, counsellors may need to seek
legal advice and, in exceptional circumstances,
be prepared to have their decision challenged in
court or in some other formal way.
In Canada, judges typically apply the Wigmore conditions in determining if
confidentially obtained information should be disclosed during a legal proceeding.
These are:
• Did the communication originate within a confidential relationship?
• Is the element of confidence essential to the full and satisfactory maintenance
of the relationship?
• Is the relationship one which the community believes should be actively and
constantly fostered?
• Will injury done to the relationship by disclosure be of greater consequence
than the benefit gained to the legal proceedings by disclosure?
(Cotton, n.d.)
14 Standards of Practice
B3
Duty to Warn
Duty to Warn
Counsellors have a duty to use reasonable care when
they become aware of their client’s intention or potential to place others in clear and imminent danger. In
these circumstances, they give threatened persons such
warnings as are essential to avert foreseeable dangers.
When counsellors become
aware of the intention
or potential of clients to
place others in clear and
imminent danger, they use
reasonable care to give
threatened persons such
warnings as are essential
to avert foreseeable
dangers.
Under this ethical obligation, counsellors should take
protective action when clients pose a danger to themselves or to others. Whereas ‘duty to warn’ most often
refers to harm to others, counsellors in Canada typically extend this standard to include ‘harm to self ”.
Once counsellors have reasonable grounds to believe
that there is such imminent danger, they use the least
intrusive steps to prevent harm.
When dealing with clients who may harm themselves
or others, counsellors are guided by the following
actions:
• Empower clients to take steps to minimize or
eliminate the risk of harm.
• Use the least intrusive interventions necessary to
fulfill the ethical responsibilities associated with
the duty to warn.
• Seek collegial consultation, and when necessary,
obtain legal assistance.
With respect to suicidal clients, counsellors’ interventions may include such steps as:
• Considering the potential advantages/disadvantages of negotiating safety contracts with those
evaluated to be at low risk;
• Disclosing to significant others in the clients’ life;
• A suicide watch in institutional environments, or
• Voluntary or involuntary hospitalization.
When counsellors believe that their clients might harm
an identifiable person, they should take steps to warn
the individual of the potential danger. Depending on
the particular circumstances, counsellors may be justified in taking any number of steps, including:
• Ensuring vigilance by a client’s family member;
• Reporting to the police, or
15
Standards of Practice
• Advising voluntary or involuntary
hospitalization.
Counsellors should consult with colleagues when
making such decisions and may need to seek legal
assistance.
Counsellors may be justified in breaching confidence
with clients who are HIV positive and whose behaviour is putting others at risk. However, counsellors
should make every effort to encourage such clients
to take responsibility for informing their sexual or
needle-sharing partners of their HIV status. With
the client’s informed permission, counsellors should
contact the client’s physician, and seek the consultative assistance of another counsellor, and legal assistance may be needed.
“The protective privilege ends when the public peril begins.”
(Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 1974)
Informed Consent
Informed consent is essential to counsellors’ respect
for the clients’ rights to self-determination. Consent
must be given voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently. Counsellors must provide to clients a
rationale for potential treatments and procedures in
easily understood terms. Any intervention offered to
a client should be grounded in an established theory
or have a supporting research base. Voluntarily means that consent to participate in
counselling, assessment, research or any other professional services provided by counsellors must be
given freely without pressure, coercion, or without
powerful incentives to do so.
Knowingly means that counsellors fully disclose
relevant information to clients so that they are briefed
as to what it is they are being asked to give their
consent. This includes disclosing the type of information which may have to be reported to a third party
and the limits to confidentiality (e.g., requirements
of public health laws, warrants, and subpoenas) and
16 Standards of Practice
B4
Client’s Rights and
Informed Consent
When counselling is
initiated, and throughout
the counselling process as
necessary, counsellors inform
clients of the purposes, goals,
techniques, procedures,
limitations, potential risks,
and benefits of services to
be performed, and other
such pertinent information.
Counsellors make sure
that clients understand the
implications of diagnosis, fees
and fee collection arrangements, record keeping, and
limits of confidentiality.
Clients have the right to
participate in the ongoing
counselling plans, to refuse
any recommended services,
and to be advised of the
consequences of such refusal.
(See also C5, E5)
checking the client’s understanding through discussion, clarification, and opportunities to ask questions.
Information must be given to clients in a manner
which is sensitive to their cultural and linguistic
needs.
Intelligently means that clients have the ability to
comprehend the conditions for consent sufficiently to
make an informed decision. Counsellors should not
equate silence with consent.
Counsellors should respect the right of a client to
change his or her mind and to withdraw informed
consent.
Counsellors should respect a client’s expressed desire
to consult others with respect to informed consent
decisions.
If a written consent form is not appropriate because
of considerations relating to culture, literacy, disability, or for any other legitimate reason, counsellors
should record the oral response to the informed
consent process and document the reasons for it not
being written.
The common-law Tarasoff (1976) principle will be familiar as another kind of mandatory
reporting. It is still the law today and is supported by other legal sources. For instance,
section 35(1)(m) of the Health Information Act (Alberta) provides a statutory exception
to the general prohibition on disclosing confidential information in the case of “imminent
danger to the health or safety of any person.” Young v. Bella (2006, Supreme Court of
Canada) confirmed that a reporter under mandatory reporting obligations must have
reasonable cause, for the belief of abuse, and not mere speculation.
(Moore, 2011, p.8)
Standards of Practice
17
Touch in Counselling
Counsellors should always be thoughtfully aware of
any boundary crossings in their counselling and be
alert to its potential for both client benefit and harm.
Such vigilance is particularly required when there is
physical contact between a counsellor and client.
Although human touch can be a normalizing and
nurturing experience, during counselling it must be
considered with attention to the counsellor’s intentions, the client’s perspective, and such factors as: age
and gender differences, and the client’s cultural and
personal experiences with touch.
The following guidelines may assist counsellors
in viewing touch from a therapeutic and client
perspective:
• What is the potentially positive role that touch
might play in my relationship with this client?
• What are the potential risks?
• What is my motivation for physical contact with
this client? Is it to meet my client’s needs or my
own?
• Will this client experience touching as therapeutic,
non-erotic contact?
• Do I understand the client’s personal history
sufficiently to risk touching at this time? Touching,
at least at an early stage in counselling, is contraindicated for clients who have been sexually abused.
• Did this client misinterpret the intention of my
touching? If yes, I will raise it with my client as
soon as it is appropriate.
When touch is integral to any therapeutic approach
or technique, clients are briefed on its nature and
intended purpose prior to the therapeutic touch and
given appropriate control over it.
18 B5
Children and Persons
with Diminished
Capacity
Counsellors understand
that the parental or
guardian right to consent
on behalf of children
diminishes commensurate
with the child’s growing
capacity to provide
informed consent.
Standards of Practice
Children and Persons with Diminished
Capacity
A small number of adults with developmental
disabilities, critical illnesses, serious injury, or other
disabling conditions may be declared by a court to
be legally incompetent. Each province/ territory has
legislation, which provides for the conditions and
procedures for such a determination. Counsellors
should seek informed consent for individuals
declared incompetent from their legal guardians.
The parents and guardians of younger children have
the legal authority to give consent on their behalf.
However, the parental right to give consent diminishes and may even terminate as the child grows older
and acquires sufficient understanding and intelligence
to fully comprehend the conditions for informed
consent. Counsellors should be vigilant to keep themselves informed of their statutory obligations with
respect to the rights of children, including their right
to privacy and self-determination commensurate with
their ability and with regard to their best interests.
Mature Minor
However, there is a sufficient body of common law in Canada which is fairly clear in
stating that regardless of age, a minor is capable of consenting or refusing consent
to medical treatment if he or she is able to appreciate the nature and purpose of the
treatment and the consequences of giving or refusing consent.
(Noel, Browne, Hoegg, & Boone, 2002, p. 139)
A third party, such as a Court may, by court order,
require clients to receive counselling and/or to be
assessed by a counsellor. Under such circumstances,
counsellors should clarify their obligations, inform
clients of the type of information expected by the
third party and identify the consequences, if any, of
non-compliance.
With respect to the changing legal environment in Canada, there are the following changes:
“A shift from paternalistic to rights-based principles of education and treatment.”
“Recognition that the young, the mentally ill and the elderly, who are competent, can
make their own health and care decisions, independent of others.”
(Solomon, 1996)
19
Standards of Practice
B6
Maintenance of Records
Maintenance of
Records
Counsellors shall maintain counselling records with
not less than the following information:
Counsellors maintain
records in sufficient detail
to track the sequence and
nature of professional
services rendered and
consistent with any legal,
regulatory, agency, or
institutional requirement.
They secure the safety of
such records and create,
maintain, transfer, and
dispose of them in a
manner compliant with the
requirements of confidentiality and the other articles
of this Code of Ethics.
• Basic information
■ name, address, telephone number of client(s)
■ name and phone number of person to contact
in case of emergency
■ name of referring agent/agency;
• Record of each professional contact
■ date of contact, length, name(s) of all present
■ counselling information sufficient to keep
track of counselling issues and progress, correspondence, reports, third party information,
informed consent forms;
• Record of consultations regarding client,
including telephone calls, e-mails, and
• Fees charged, if any.
Counsellors do not leave records on their desks,
computer screens, in computer files, or in any area
or medium where they can be read by others without
appropriate permission to do so.
Record keeping in schools is typically regulated by
school board policies. These policies may derive from
provincial ministries of education, and may have
been developed to conform to the requirements of
provincial freedom of information and privacy laws,
and personal health information acts. Counselling
notes should not be kept in a student’s school record
and should be maintained in a secure file in the counsellor’s office. However, some information acquired
by counsellors such as the results of psychoeducational assessments, may be placed in the student
record when it has been used to inform programming decisions for the student. It is then presented in
a manner to minimize misunderstandings by others.
School counsellors should work to ensure clear
school policies and procedures on such matters and
participate in their formulation whenever possible.
20 Standards of Practice
Counsellors shall be familiar with any local laws and
workplace policies related to record maintenance,
security, and preservation. They are advised to proactively address any rules pertaining to the maintenance
of records that may conflict with professional confidentiality standards and ethical conduct. When there
are conflicts between institutional rules and/or workplace policies and practices and the CCPA Code of
Ethics and these Standards of Practice, counsellors
use their education and skills to identify and resolve
the relevant concerns in a manner that conforms both
to law and to ethical professional practice. When
necessary, they may contact their provincial counselling association and/or the CCPA Ethics Committee
for assistance.
Records may be written, recorded, computerized or
maintained in any other medium so long as their utility,
confidentiality, security, and preservation are assured,
and they cannot be alterable without being detected.
Counsellors shall ensure the security and preservation
of client records for which they have maintenance
responsibility, and the records of those they supervise,
for a period stipulated by law in their jurisdiction and
by protocol of their employer, whichever is longest.
CCPA’s standard of practice is to retain records for
a period of seven years after the last date of service
provided, and for seven years after the age of majority
for children when the stipulation in law and by
employment protocol is shorter than this length of
time. Additionally, counsellors take responsibility for
adhering to any local policy regarding retention of
records that may exceed this time limit.
Counsellors shall ensure that there is provision for the
preservation of their counselling records after their
death or upon retirement. In some work environments there may be ethically and legally appropriate
provisions for the retention of records. In private
practice in particular, records may be transferred to
another counsellor and clients appropriately notified
or clients may take possession of their records.
When counsellors dispose of records, they shall do
so in a manner that preserves confidentiality and that
21
Standards of Practice
follows any local regulation or policy. However, counsellors never destroy records or counselling notes
after they receive a subpoena or have reason to expect
receiving one. This action could be judged to be an
obstruction of justice and it could result in being held
in contempt of court.
Counsellors keep information contained in counselling records confidential, but they never keep
secret records.
Counsellors countersign notes only when required
to do so by policy or regulation. When counsellors
merely review another person’s note, the co-signatory
should read: “John Smith’s student counsellor/entry
reviewed by Jane Doe”. Counsellors should only
co-sign notes without qualifications if they have fully
participated in the activity being reported.
Counsellors working with a multi-disciplinary team
where a common recording system is used, always
exercise appropriate caution when placing information in such records. They take steps to ensure that
colleagues of other disciplines understand their
reports and recommendations. In particular, if there
is a risk that professional observations, test scores and
other personal information might be misunderstood,
potentially causing harm to clients, then such information should not be entered in the common record.
Also, counsellors participate in such collaborative
record keeping only when they are assured that the
standards of confidentiality, security, and preservation are maintained.
Secretarial/clerical assistants, supervisees, and all
others who work with a counsellor’s confidential
records have a responsibility similar to that of the
counsellor with respect to confidentiality. Counsellors
must take all necessary steps to guarantee that client
confidentiality is respected and maintained by others
with whom they work and consult.
Some guidelines for record keeping for counsellors
include:
• Record information in an objective, factual
manner.
22 Standards of Practice
• Include only information directly relevant to
client care, treatment and planning.
• Identify clearly personal impressions, observations, and hypotheses as their view.
• Note and sign any subsequent alterations or
additions, leaving the original entry legible
and intact. Never erase, delete, use whiteout,
or otherwise expunge entries. In the event that
a client wishes a portion of the record to be
expunged, the counsellor negotiates with the
client to obtain an acceptable manner to record
the required information.
• Record information at the time service is
provided.
• Make their own entries for the services they
provide.
• Be brief but remember that brevity must contain
substance.
• Describe behaviour, avoiding the use of
undefined and/or unnecessary adjectives.
• Record information sufficient to support
continuity of counselling service.
• Record information to enhance counselling and
not as a process of ‘gathering evidence’.
• Do not enter notes in a record for another
person.
The right of the accused to make a dull answer and defense is a core principle of
fundamental justice, but it does not automatically entitle the accused to gain access to
information contained in the private records of complainants and witnesses...
(R. v. Mills, Supreme Court of Canada, 1999)
23
Standards of Practice
B7
Access to Records
Access to Records
Clients normally have a right of full access to their
counselling records. However, the counsellor has
the responsibility to ensure that any such access is
managed in a timely and orderly manner, including
the disposition of records when they cease practice
or leave a place of employment.
Counsellors understand
that clients have a right of
access to their counselling
records and that disclosure
to others of information
from these records only
occurs with the written
consent of the client and/
or when required by law.
Whenever possible, counsellors should retain the
original counselling records but, on request, clients
and others with informed consent, should receive a
good quality copy of the relevant content.
If records are disclosed, any third-party information
(e.g., identification of spouse, friend, combatant)
should be withheld, unless prior permission has
been granted, or until informed consent has been
obtained directly from those sources.
Parents or other legal guardians have a right of
access, upon formal request, to their minor child’s
counselling record. However, this is not an absolute
right and any such request should be managed on a
‘need to know’ basis and on a judgment as to what
is in the best interest of the child considering the
nature of the information, the age of the minor, any
custodial access stipulations, and his/her capacity to
give informed consent.
School counsellors should make every effort to
ensure that there is a school-based procedure in
place to adjudicate any requests from parents or
guardians for access to counselling records.
There may be the following exceptions to clients’ full
access to their records:
• When access to the information could be
harmful to the client. For example, should
the client’s mental status be such that there is
significant doubt about the client’s ability to
handle the full disclosure,
and/or
• When some third party information may not
be shared.
24 Standards of Practice
In any case, counsellors should be aware that any
denial of a valid request for disclosure may be challenged and ultimately adjudicated in court and/or by
an arbitrator whose authority could be established
under a provincial freedom of information and
privacy legislation.
The “mature minor” rule is that a person over 16 years of age is presumed to be
able to make his or her own healthcare decisions.This was affirmed in 2009 by the
Supreme Court of Canada in A.C. v. Manitoba (Director of Child and Family Services).
For persons under 16 there is no hard rule, but the person may make their own
healthcare decisions if they are a “mature minor.” Factors for deciding whether a person
is a matureminor include: the nature of the treatment; the intellectual capacity and
sophistication of the minor; the stability of their views; the impact of the surroundings
of the minor on the independence of their views; and any particular vulnerabilities.
If the person is a mature minor (depends heavily on facts), that person has rights to
confidentiality of information and access to their own healthcare information. As a
result, 16- and 17-year olds may validly object to a requirement for parental consent
to treatment.
(Moore, 2011, p.8)
Dual and Multiple Relationships
Dual or multiple relationships exist when counsellors, simultaneously or sequentially, have one or more
relationships with a client additional to the counselling relationship. Counsellors recognize that such
multiple relationships have the potential to negatively
affect their objectivity and to compromise the quality
of their professional services. They understand that
this potential for harm increases as the expectations
for these multiple roles diverge. The power and status
differential between the counsellor and client can be
affected when dual or multiple relationships exist.
Counsellors, whenever possible, avoid entering
into social, financial, business, or other relationships with current or former clients that are likely
to place the counsellor and/or client in a conflict of
interest and/or compromise the counselling relationship. This includes relationships via social media,
such as “friending”, “following”, or “linking” via
various electronic messaging platforms. Personal
profiles on social media should be kept separate from
professional profiles.
Standards of Practice
B8
Dual Relationships
Counsellors make
every effort to avoid
dual relationships with
clients that could impair
professional judgment or
increase the risk of harm
to clients. Examples of
dual relationships include,
but are not limited to,
familial, social, financial,
business, or close personal
relationships. When a dual
relationship cannot be
avoided, counsellors take
appropriate professional
precautions such as role
clarification, informedconsent, consultation, and
documentation to ensure
that judgment is not
impaired and no exploitation occurs. (See also B11,
B12, B13, C5, C7, F10)
25
Counsellors make every effort to avoid entering into
counselling relationships with individuals with whom
they have had a previous relationship which could
impair professional judgement or have the inherent
potential for client exploitation.
Counsellors do not use information obtained while
counselling clients, or their relationship with clients,
to obtain advantage or material benefits. Nor do
counsellors behave in any way which would be an
exploitation of clients.
Counsellors should avoid accepting gifts of more
than token value from their clients and do not influence their clients to make contributions to organizations or causes in which the counsellor may have a
personal interest.
In rural communities, and in certain other workplace circumstances, such as in closed communities
or remote, northern, and isolated areas, it may be
impossible or unreasonable for counsellors to avoid
social or other non-counselling contact with clients,
students, supervisees, or research participants.
Counsellors should manage such circumstances with
care to avoid confusion on behalf of such individuals
and to avoid conflicts of interest.
Lack of anonymity requires rural counsellors to
think carefully as they develop new social networks.
Boundary management is a challenge in small
communities as multiple relationships are inevitable.
Practitioners discuss these overlapping relationships in session; ignoring dual relationships, or not
addressing the possibility of overlapping relationships, can lead to a fracture in the client relationship.
A nuance of this same caveat applies to counsellors
living and working in northern and remote areas of
Canada, and counsellors who live and work within
unique cultural and linguistic groups that have
formed enclaves in urban centres.
As a routine, counsellors should discuss with
their clients the manner in which they intend to
respond to them should they meet outside their
counselling workplace, and their intention to avoid
26 Standards of Practice
behaviour in such circumstances that could have the
potential to embarrass clients or inadvertently call
attention to their status as a client and/or to their
counselling issues.
When a counsellor becomes aware that a multiple
relationship exists with a client, or when a conflict
of interest occurs, the counsellor shall take steps to
resolve the situation in the best interest of the client
and in a manner consistent with the ethical principles
of the CCPA Code Ethics.
When counsellors become aware that they may
be expected or required to perform potentially
conflicting roles, such as when one person involved
in group, marital, or family counselling seeks private
time with the counsellor, and/or when an anticipated
request to be a court witness compromises counselling, then the counsellor undertakes to clarify roles,
including withdrawing from roles when appropriate.
When counsellors work with individuals who have a
relationship with each other, such as parents and children, or adult partners, they take initiative to identify
who the clients are and the expected roles for the
relationship with each, and clarify the expected use of
any information that may be generated.
B9
Respecting Diversity
Counsellors actively work
to understand the diverse
cultural background of the
clients with whom they
work, and do not condone
or engage in discrimination based on age, colour,
culture, ethnicity, disability,
gender, religion, sexual
orientation, or marital or
socio-economic status.
(See also D10)
Counsellors should consult when they are uncertain
about the appropriateness of dual or multiple relationships with a client. They should remember that
if such a relationship is justified that it should, if it
were to become necessary, stand up to the scrutiny of
peer review.
Respecting Diversity
Counsellors strive to deepen their understanding
of their own worldview and to appreciate how their
cultural and other life experiences have influenced
their values, beliefs and behaviours, including any
stereotypical and prejudicial attitudes. Additionally,
counsellors strive to recognize the intersection of
their own worldview with that of their clients’ worldviews and potential effects that could be positive,
neutral or negative to the counselling process.
Standards of Practice
27
Counsellors seek out educational, training, and other
experiences to avoid imposing their values on their
clients and to increase their competency to work
with clients from cultural and other life experiences
different from their own. Counsellors consider how
the clients’ cultural worldviews and environmental
contexts shape the concerns of the clients and potential interventions.
Counsellors strive to understand how such factors
as gender, ethnicity, culture and socio-economic
circumstances may influence personal development,
career choices, help-seeking behaviours, and attitudes
and beliefs about mental health problems and helpintended interventions.
Counsellors strive to understand and respect the
helping practices of indigenous peoples and the
help-giving systems and resources of minority
communities.
Counsellors are aware of the barriers that may hinder
members of minority groups from seeking or gaining
access to mental health services.
Counsellors are sensitive to and acknowledge their
clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs and they incorporate such beliefs into their counselling discourse
with clients.
Counsellors are aware of and sensitive to cultural
biases that may be inherent in certain assessment
tools and procedures and particularly those associated with certain counselling practices.
The geopolitical location of their practice may require
counsellors to devote additional time and effort
to increasing their knowledge in order to respond
appropriately to the particular needs of their clientele.
28 B10
Standards of Practice
Consulting with Other Professionals
Consulting with Other Counsellors make an effort to consult only with
professionals they believe to be knowledgeable and
Professionals
trustworthy.
Counsellors may consult
with other professionally
competent persons about
the client. However, if the
identity of the client is to
be revealed, it is done with
the written consent of the
client. Counsellors choose
professional consultants in
a manner which will avoid
placing the consultant
in a conflict of interest
situation.
B11
Relationships with
Former Clients
Counsellors remain
accountable for any
relationships established
with former clients. Those
relationships could include,
but are not limited to,
those of a friendship,
social, financial, and
business nature. Counsellors exercise caution
about entering any such
relationships and take into
account whether or not
the issues and relational
dynamics present during
the counselling have been
fully resolved and properly
terminated. In any case,
counsellors seek consultation on such decisions.
When consulting regarding their clients, counsellors
protect their clients’ identity, if possible, and limit the
sharing of information only to the degree necessary to
facilitate the consultation.
When counsellors have to disclose the identity of a
client about whom they are consulting, they obtain
from the client written and time-limited informed
consent.
Counsellors avoid consulting with one another about
a client if they have reason to believe or to suspect
that the person may have a prior or current relationship to the client, either directly or indirectly, such
that disclosing the client’s identity will place that
other person in a conflict of interest or in a problematic dual relationship.
When counsellors consult in the interests of their
clients, they remain accountable for any decisions
they may take based on such consultations.
Relationships with Former Clients
When clients end their counselling sessions, counsellors remain accountable for ensuring that any future
non-counselling relationship, including friendship,
social, financial, or business, are free of any power
differentials or other encumbrances. Counsellors are
cautious when entering any such relationship with
former clients and assess whether or not the issues
and relational dynamics present during the counselling have been fully resolved and properly terminated. They also consider the potential ethical actions
required should future counselling be required for the
former client.
Counsellors do not use knowledge from a prior
counselling relationship to re-establish contact,
and intentions for a post-termination relationship
must not originate in the counselling relationship.
29
Standards of Practice
Counsellors should always seek consultation on such
a matter and have the burden to ensure the ethical
appropriateness of any such relationships.
B12
Sexual Intimacies with Clients
CCPA and all allied professional organizations,
have an ethical prohibition against sexual involveCounsellors avoid any
ment with clients. Sexualizing the counsellor-client
type of sexual intimacies
relationship is always inappropriate regardless of
with clients, and they
the client’s behaviour, or any counselling ideology
do not counsel persons
or personal belief system that might be invoked to
with whom they have
justify such behaviour. This prohibition also means
had a sexual relationship.
that counsellors refrain from counselling individuals
Counsellors do not engage with whom they have been sexually intimate, and
it extends to former clients unless certain specific
in sexual intimacies with
conditions are met.
former clients within a
Sexual Intimacies
minimum of three years
after terminating the counselling relationship. This
prohibition is not limited
to the three-year period
but extends indefinitely
if the client is clearly
vulnerable, by reason of
emotional or cognitive
disorder, to exploitative
influence by the counsellor.
Counsellors, in all such
circumstances, clearly
bear the burden to ensure
that no such exploitative
influence has occurred,
and to seek consultative
assistance.
Counsellors are prohibited from being sexually
intimate with former clients even after the three-year
period following counselling termination unless:
• Counselling contact was brief and
non-intensive;
• The client is not vulnerable to exploitation by
virtue of his/her mental health status;
• No knowledge is used from the counselling
experience with the client to re-establish
contact; and,
• The possibility of a post-termination relationship did not originate in the counselling
relationship.
Counsellors who establish intimate relationships with
former clients three years after counselling termination have the responsibility to demonstrate that there
was no exploitation and no advantage taken because
of the prior counselling relationship. In such circumstances, counsellors should always seek consultation
and have the burden to ensure that no such exploitation influences occur.
Counsellors understand that a client’s response to
touch and references to sexual issues can be influenced by gender, cultural and religious background,
30 Standards of Practice
and personal sexual history, including any traumatic
sexual experiences.
The following guidelines assist counsellors in
avoiding boundary violations with respect to intimate
and sexual matters in their counselling:
• Be vigilant about setting and maintaining
counsellor-client boundaries in counselling.
• Seek out consultation or supervision whenever
a sexual attraction to a client is likely to interfere
with maintaining professional conduct.
• Avoid making sexualized comments about a
client’s appearance or physical attributes.
• Be alert and sensitive to client differences and
vulnerabilities with respect to their sexuality.
• Avoid exploring client sexual history or sexual
experiences unless it is germane to the goals of
counselling for the client.
• Avoid disclosures about the counsellor’s sexual
experiences, problems or fantasies.
• Respond to any seductive or sexualized
behaviour on behalf of clients in a professional
manner consistent with the goals of counselling and seek consultation or supervision
when needed.
Boundary violations are acts that breach the core intent of the professional-client
association. They happen when professionals exploit the relationship to meet personal
needs rather than client needs. Changing that fundamental principle undoes the
covenant, altering the ethos of care that obliges professionals to place clients’ concerns
first. In fact, all of the boundaries in a professional-client relationship exist in order to
protect this core understanding.
(Peterson, 1992, p. 75)
Standards of Practice
B13
Multiple Clients
When counsellors agree
to provide counselling to
two or more persons who
have a relationship (such
as husband and wife, or
parents and children),
counsellors clarify at the
outset which person or
persons are clients and the
nature of the relationship
they will have with each
person. If conflicting roles
emerge for counsellors,
they must clarify, adjust,
or withdraw from roles
appropriately.
31
Multiple Clients: Couple, Family and
Group Counselling
Counsellors realize the unique ethical challenges
associated with multi-persons counselling, such as
with couples, family, and group counselling. For
example, individuals continue to have their own
rights and responsibilities, including their right of
access to the counselling records generated by these
counselling services.
Clients should understand and consent to the limits
on confidentiality before participating in such
services. When clients from group, couples, or family
counselling are seen by the counsellor on an individual basis, apart from joint sessions, these sessions
should be treated as confidential unless there is
consent that communication may be shared with the
other partner, group or family members.
When counsellors begin multi-persons counselling,
they clarify goals, the nature of the particular type of
counselling service and address issues of informed
consent and the unique limits on confidentiality.
Counsellors explain and advocate for the principles and practice of confidentiality but, in the final
analysis, they can only guarantee their own commitment to it.
When engaged in multi-person counselling, counsellors make every effort to avoid or minimize having
private, confidential contact with individuals concurrent with their membership in couples, family or
group counselling. Such efforts can minimize the
potential for side taking, client secret sharing, triangulation and other challenges associated with individual access to the counsellor. Counsellors must not
enter multiple counselling relationships where their
effectiveness and objectivity could be compromised.
Counsellors may decline to accept a client for couples
or family counselling if the individual counselling
relationship has progressed to the point where the
counsellor will likely be biased in favour of the client,
or will risk being seen by others as being so.
32 Standards of Practice
B14
Multiple Helpers
Multiple Helpers
Collaboration and consultation with other professionals is often needed to best serve the needs of
clients. Some common professional partners are:
If, after entering a
counselling relationship,
a counsellor discovers
the client is already in
a counselling relationship, the counsellor is
responsible for discussing
the issues related to
continuing or terminating
counselling with the client.
It may be necessary, with
client consent, to discuss
these issues with the
other helper.
• Social workers;
• Child adolescent treatment workers;
• Medical personnel;
• Psychologists;
• Psychiatrists;
• Parole officers;
• Pastors; and,
• School clinical staff (such as speech-language
pathologists, rehabilitation specialists, occupational therapists, school psychologists).
Drawing on the expertise, perspectives, and values
of other professional helpers enhances services for
clients and provides opportunities for “wraparound”
service for particularly vulnerable clients.
As indicated in this ethical article, it is vital that counsellors working with the same client discuss issues
related to multiple helpers. When a client has more
than one counsellor, it is each counsellor’s responsibility to discuss this issue with the client and the
other helper(s). The helpers may agree to collaborate
in the interest of the client with each contributing
their expertise to address different or complementary
aspects of the client’s needs. If one of the counsellors
does not want another counsellor working with a
particular client, the client may have to choose with
which counsellor to discontinue service.
33
Standards of Practice
B15
Group Work
Group Work
In addition to the responsibilities listed in ethical
article B15, counsellors who engage in group work
must have established competencies in the area (i.e.,
through training and supervised practice in group
work) and, prior to beginning the first session,
ensure that all group members understand and agree
to additional aspects of group counselling work.
Counsellors discuss aspects of group work to:
Counsellors have the
responsibility to screen
prospective group
members, especially when
group goals focus on selfunderstanding and growth
through self-disclosure.
Counsellors inform clients
of group member rights,
issues of confidentiality,
and group techniques
typically used. They take
reasonable precautions to
protect group members
from physical and/
or psychological harm
resulting from interaction
within the group, both
during and following the
group experience.
• Clarify the differences between individual
counselling, where the focus is on the
individual; and group counselling, where the
focus is on the group dynamics among group
members;
• Explain the responsibility of each group
member to accept differing opinions among
group members, and refrain from abusive or
aggressive language or behaviour;
• Emphasize that group counselling at all times
is voluntary;
• Explain how confidential information and
different values will be handled in group work;
• Discuss expectations regarding group member
socialization outside of group sessions;
• Discuss with group members the legal limits
related to confidentiality; and,
• Explore, prior to the beginning of group
sessions, the typical feelings of loss experienced
by many group members when group sessions
conclude.
34 B16
Computer Use
When computer
applications are used
as a component of
counselling services,
counsellors ensure that:
(a) client and counsellor
identities are verified;
(b) the client is capable
of using the computer
application; (c) the
computer application is
appropriate to the needs
of the client; (d) the
client understands the
purpose and operation
of client-assisted and/
or self-help computer
applications; and (e) a
follow-up of client use of
a computer application
is provided to assist
subsequent needs. In
all cases, computer
applications do not
diminish the counsellor’s
responsibility to act in
accordance with the
CCPA Code of Ethics,
and in particular, to
ensure adherence to the
principles of confidentiality, informed consent,
and safeguarding
against harmful effects.
(See also D5)
2
Standards of Practice
Computer Use and Other Electronic
Technologies
The increase in distance counselling, particularly the
use of technological applications as resources for or
platforms to enable counselling, and use of social
media for therapeutic purposes, has caused counselling
associations around the world to establish a number
of standards of practice for this mode of service. The
National Board of Counselor Certification (NBCC)2
emphasizes a number of key standards of practice,
including:
• The identity of clients receiving distance counselling using electronic platforms should be verified
by using code words or numbers.
• An appropriately trained professional, who can
provide local assistance including crisis counselling, should be identified by the counsellor for each
client receiving distance counselling.
• The counsellor providing distance counselling
through electronic platforms, tells clients of
encryption methods being used to help ensure the
security of communications.
• Counsellors providing distance counselling
services follow appropriate procedures regarding
the release of information for sharing Internet
client information with other electronic sources.
Counsellors who offer distance counselling services
should ensure that their websites provide links to
the CCPA website to facilitate consumer protection.
Safeguarding the client in areas related to confidentiality, informed consent, and any potential harmful
effects take on an important role when the client is not
receiving services in person. Counsellors are vigilant in
considering and addressing potential risks associated
with technology access and operation, such as unauthorized recording of group sessions through the use of
ancillary devices and platforms such as webcams, blogs,
podcasts, or uploaded videos.
National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Center for Credentialing and Education, Inc., 3 Terrace
Way, Suite D, Greensboro, NC 27403
Standards of Practice
35
Further information related to the unique considerations related to the delivery of distance counselling
are discussed in the next section.
Services using Distance Delivery, Social
Media, and Electronic Technologies
Counsellors recognize that their commitment to
adhere to their CCPA Code of Ethics is not diminished when they use electronic and other communication technologies to provide counselling and other
professional services.
B17
Delivery of Services
by Telephone,
Teleconferencing and
Internet
Counsellors follow
all additional ethical
guidelines for services
delivered by telephone,
teleconferencing, and
the Internet, including
appropriate precautions
regarding confidentiality,
security, informed consent,
records, and counselling
plans, as well as determining the right to provide
such services in regulatory
jurisdictions.
Counsellors who provide services by these means
strive to remain current with the emerging capacity
of various communication technologies to further
enhance communicative security and with changes
to professional standards intended to inform their
practices.
Counsellors recognize that all the communication
technologies create, or can create, records or recordings that must be handled carefully to avoid breaches
of confidentiality. These recordings may constitute a
verbatim component of their confidential counselling
record different from that generated for face-to-face
counselling.
Counsellors restrict telephone conversations with
clients and telephone counselling to locations in which
they can ensure client confidentiality. They also take
steps to protect client confidentiality when receiving
and sending messages by voice mail and fax machines.
Counsellors are aware, when engaged in telephone
or video-mediated communication, that they can be
recorded by the client, and that there is the potential for recording and monitoring by unauthorized
persons.
Counsellors take steps to ensure that they are
providing distance counselling services to clients only
in jurisdictions in which they are in compliance with
any regulatory requirements that may exist in that
location.
Counsellors provide distance counselling only through
secure web sites and with e-mail communications
36 Standards of Practice
that use appropriate encryption designed to prevent
breaches of confidentiality and to avoid access by
unauthorized persons.
Counsellors may provide information about their
distance counselling services from secure or insecure
sites when information is restricted to such general
matters as the nature of their Internet services, types
of client issues that might be addressed in this way,
third party resources, referral information, standards
of practice for these services, and so forth.
Counsellors use an appropriate intake process to determine client readiness for distance counselling, and
provide each distance counselling client with orientation and coaching with respect to such matters as:
• Nature and limitations of the service;
• How to maximize benefit;
• Security protocols and ethical risks;
• Fees and billing procedures;
• Any software the client might require and at
whose expense;
• Limits to content and frequency of checking
e-mail transmissions and anticipated response
time;
• Strategies clients can use to improve the security
of their communications; and,
• Time zone differences.
Informed consent and disclosure processes must
include alerting the client to any Internet counselling credentials or training held by the counsellor and
clearly address the risks and benefits of using Internet
counselling. Proactive information about the steps to
take if technology fails or if the client is in an emergency situation, including a crisis plan, must be in place.
Counsellors use features such as word, number, or
graphic codes when they wish to verify client identity.
Counsellors respect the privacy of clients on social
media and avoid online activities that have the potential to compromise the counsellor-client relationship.
Standards of Practice
37
Counsellors brief clients using distance delivery on
protocols to follow when there are technology failures
or other interruptions in Internet or telecommunication services including alternative means of contact
such as by providing telephone contact numbers.
Counsellors collaborate with their distance delivery
counselling clients to identify appropriate local professionals who might be of assistance during an emergency and to determine local crisis hotlines and other
emergency resources.
Counsellors are aware when providing counselling
services using distance delivery, social media, or
other electronic technologies that it is not yet clear
as to whether regulatory bodies and the law view the
focus of such services as occurring in the jurisdiction of the counsellor, the client, or both and which
laws govern the Internet counsellor with respect to
reporting abuse, age of majority, and so forth.
B18
Referral
When counsellors determine their inability to be
of professional assistance
to clients, they avoid
initiating a counselling
relationship, or immediately terminate it. In either
event, members suggest
appropriate alternatives,
including making a referral
to resources about which
they are knowledgeable.
Should clients decline
the suggested referral,
counsellors are not
obligated to continue the
relationship.
Referrals
When counsellors recognize that the needs of a client
are beyond their scope of practice or boundary of
competence, they collaboratively undertake a referral
process with the client. Counsellors make an effort to
become knowledgeable about community resources
and to establish and maintain relationships with
mental health practitioners and other professionals in
their community sufficient to make informed client
referrals when appropriate.
When counsellors pay for, receive monies from, or
divide fees with another professional, except in an
employer-employee relationship, the remuneration to
each person is for services rendered (e.g., counselling,
assessment, consultation) and is never a financial
benefit for the referral itself.
38 Standards of Practice
B19
Termination of Counselling
Termination of
Counselling
Counsellors must strive to protect the best interests of
clients when services to clients have to be interrupted
or prematurely terminated.
Counsellors terminate
counselling relationships,
with client agreement
whenever possible, when
it is reasonably clear that:
the goals of counselling
have been met, the client
is no longer benefiting
from counselling, the client
does not pay fees charged,
previously disclosed
agency or institutional
limits do not allow for
the provision of further
counselling services, and
the client or another
person with whom the
client has a relationship
threatens or otherwise
endangers the counsellor.
However, counsellors
make reasonable efforts
to facilitate the continued
access to counselling
services when services
are interrupted by these
factors and by counsellor
illness, client or counsellor
relocation, client financial
difficulties, and so forth.
Counsellors anticipate the termination phase in
their counselling relationship and they provide
timely opportunities for their clients to deal with the
end of counselling and associated issues of loss or
separation.
When counsellors decide that they have to prematurely terminate a counselling relationship, they
make every effort to avoid client abandonment by
giving sufficient notice to the client, if at all possible,
discussing with the client the reasons for the decision,
assisting with the search for another counsellor, and
providing emergency contact information.
The natural termination of counselling is not the end. It is the beginning. It offers an
opportunity for the counsellor and the client to appreciate accomplishments and to
acknowledge the role of the client in his/her own process of change which will continue
even after counselling has discontinued. Often, premature termination manifests in clients
“no showing” and so there may not be an opportunity for communication and/or processing
of this nature.
When premature termination of counselling occurs, there is an opportunity for
the counsellor to help clients to understand next steps, whether they are related
to transitioning to a different counsellor, therapy, or setting; accepting the natural
consequences of their own actions; or addressing some other life circumstance.
39
Standards of Practice
C. Consulting and Private Practice
CODE OF ETHICS
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
General Responsibility
When counsellors are requested by a third party to
provide a service to an individual, organization, or
other entity, they undertake at the outset to clarify the
nature of the role expected, the relationship with each
party, the possible uses of any information acquired,
and any limits to confidentiality. Specifically, consultants and counsellors need to:
• Provide services only in areas where they have
expertise gained through education and experience. Counsellors practice in new areas only
after specific training and supervision;
• Discuss the fact that all consultative relationships are voluntary;
• Seek agreement from all involved in the consultation regarding each individual’s rights to
confidentiality, need for confidentiality, and any
limits to confidentiality. Information is disclosed
only when clients have given permission for
disclosure;
• Respect privacy in a consulting relationship
and provide information only to individuals
involved in the case;
• Not discriminate on the basis of disability,
sexual orientation, culture or ethnicity, religion/
spirituality, gender or socioeconomic status;
• Recognize the need for continuing education.
Consultants should have an ongoing program to
build their skills and to keep aware of multicultural and diverse populations;
• Clarify policies for creating, maintaining and
disposing of records. Keep records in a secure
location; and,
• Take constructive action to change any inappropriate policies or practices in an organization
that places restraint on their ability to act in an
ethical manner.
40 C2
Undiminished
Responsibility and
Liability
Counsellors who work in
private practice, whether
incorporated or not,
must ensure that there
is no diminishing of their
individual professional
responsibility to act in
accordance with the CCPA
Code of Ethics, or in their
liability for any failure to
do so.
Standards of Practice
Undiminished Responsibility and Liability
Incorporation
Members of CCPA who wish to establish private
practice agencies, whether incorporated or not, and
those members who work at such agencies, should:
• Ensure that their counselling will in no way
diminish their individual responsibility to
behave professionally in accordance with
the CCPA Code of Ethics and Standards
of Practice. Nor can it, in any way, limit a
member’s professional liability for any failure to
act accordingly;
• Clarify that the professional relationship, with
respect to the provision of counselling services,
is with the individual counsellor rather than
with the agency;
• Disallow an agency employer to limit a CCPA
member’s professional responsibility and liability
with respect to her/his counselling services;
• Understand that professional liability insurance
is for the CCPA member and not the agency,
although an agency may decide to pay the
liability insurance fee on behalf of a member;
and,
• Respect privacy and limit discussion from
a consulting relationship to persons clearly
involved with the case.
C3
Accurate Advertising
Counsellors, when advertising services as private
practitioners, do so in a
manner that accurately
and clearly informs the
public of their services and
areas of expertise.
Accurate Advertising
Counsellors need to promote honesty and accuracy
in their advertising and in their public statements.
Counsellors do not make deceptive statements
regarding their:
• Training;
• Credentials;
• Professional memberships;
• Services;
• Fees;
• Success of their services;
• Academic degrees;
41
Standards of Practice
• Experience;
• University or college affiliations;
• Publications;
• Media presentations; and,
• Résumés or curricula vitae.
In addition to the careful attention to accuracy in
advertising, the counsellor should adhere to additional standards related to advertising:
• Counsellors provide any media presentations
(webinar, social media, internet platforms,
print, presentation) accurately, and make sure
that their statements are both ethical and based
on their counselling knowledge, training and
experience;
• Counsellors do not use testimonials by clients,
former clients, or by relatives or friends of
clients. Testimonials may be acceptable from
an organization or business which receives the
counsellors’ services;
• Counsellors use business advertisements, cards,
door plates, building directories, exterior signs
and so forth which are in good taste (straightforward, without the use of clichés, jargon, or
catchy expressions);
• Counsellors state their professional services in
an unembellished manner without reference to,
or claims of, particular outcomes;
• Counsellors may participate in advertisements
for publications of which counsellors are
authors or editors, and in other publications of
which counsellors are reviewers;
• Counsellors do not participate in advertisements
that, either directly or implicitly, suggest that they
are endorsing a particular product brand name
for use in the provision of counselling services;
• Except for advertising their own professional
services, counsellors do not permit their name
to be associated with other advertising in
such a way that implies that the counsellor’s
42 Standards of Practice
professional expertise or professional
status is relevant to the service or product
advertised; and,
C4
Consultative
Relationships
Counsellors ensure that
consultation occurs within
a voluntary relationship
between a counsellor and
a help-seeking individual,
group, or organization,
and that the goals are
understood by all parties
concerned.
C5
Informed Consent
Counsellors who provide
services for the use of third
parties acknowledge and
clarify for the informed
consent of clients, all obligations of such multiple
relationships, including
purpose(s), entitlement
to information, and any
restrictions on confidentiality. Third parties include:
courts, public and private
institutions, funding
agencies, employees, and
so forth.
• Counsellors do not communicate with, or
encourage others to contact on their behalf,
individuals, or families in an effort to solicit
them as clients. However, they may contact
for such purposes a representative or agent of
potential clients, such as and employee assistance service, insurance companies, workers’
compensation agencies, and so forth.
Consultative Relationships
Consultative relationships are voluntary. Counsellors
should discuss the goals, aspects of the relationship, typical practices, and the limits of confidentiality. Consultants must pay particular attention
to the following factors influencing consultative
relationships:
• Provide consultative services only in those areas
in which they have demonstrated competence
by virtue of education and experience;
• Ensure that everyone knows that all aspects of
consultative relationships are voluntary; and,
• Avoid any circumstance where the duality of
relationship (professional or private) or the
prior possession of information could lead to a
conflict of interest.
Informed Consent
Counsellors should provide verbal and written information on the obligations, responsibilities and rights
of both counsellors and consultees. This information
should include:
• A clear goal statement;
• The limits of confidentiality, including the
requirement to report child abuse or neglect, or
to report according to ‘duty-to-warn’ provisions;
• The potential risks and benefits;
• A prediction as to the anticipated consequences
of the consultation;
43
Standards of Practice
• The costs of the consultation; and,
• A statement as to who will receive feedback,
including treatment plans, session notes and
specific actions.
Confidentiality is an ethical concept and it imposes a professional responsibility not to
disclose information obtained in a counselling relationship unless there are exceptional
circumstances including being required by law.
Privileged Communication, on the other hand, is a legal concept and it protects
against forced disclosure in any circumstance including legal proceedings. Generally,
the only privileged communication in Canadian Law is between a lawyer and a client.
C6
Respect for Privacy
Counsellors limit any
discussion of client
information obtained from
a consulting relationship
to persons clearly involved
with the case. Any written
and oral reports restrict
data to the purposes of
the consultation, and every
effort is made to protect
client identity and to avoid
undue invasion of privacy.
Respect for Privacy
Counsellors respect the privacy of clients by limiting
any discussion of client information obtained from a
consulting relationship to individuals who have clear
and current involvement with the case. Any data,
whether written or oral, is restricted to the purpose
of the consultation. Every effort is made to protect
client identity and to avoid undue invasion of privacy.
Counsellors should:
• Establish appointment and waiting room
practices which minimize the opportunities
for clients to meet and identify with others as
co-workers, friends, neighbours and so forth;
• Not identify anyone who is receiving counselling services when contacted by unknown
callers or by others, unless there is client
authorization to do so;
• Verify the identity of telephone callers whenever
confidential client information is to be provided
or discussed;
• Maintain a professional manner and caution
that protects the dignity and privacy of the
client when discussing client information in a
telephone conversation. The counsellor avoids
informality, speaking off the record, or saying
anything that they would not want their client
to hear;
44 Standards of Practice
• Take appropriate precautions when using faxes,
e-mails, personal messaging devices and cellular
phones in their professional practice. Such
means of communication should only be used
for the exchange of confidential information
when its security can be assured; and,
• Avoid playing confidential voice mail messages
in a manner which may be overheard by others.
C7
Conflict of Interest
Conflicts of interest can arise when there are hidden
agendas or dual relationships. Consultation occurs
only on a voluntary basis, and the goals of the
Counsellors who engage
consultation must be fully understood by all parties
in consultation avoid
concerned. The potential problems of conflicts of
circumstances where the
interest can be avoided with careful explanations of
duality of relationships
the goals, informed consent, confidentiality limitaor the prior possession of
tions and uses of information. Counsellors do not
information could lead to a
engage in consultations when there is a duality of
conflict of interest.
relationships or when prior possession of information
could lead to a conflict of interest.
Conflict of Interest
Counsellors refrain from recruiting or accepting as
clients in their private practice individuals for whom
they may have professional obligations at places
where they are employed.
Sponsorship and Recruitment
C8
Sponsorship and
Recruitment
Counsellors present any
of their organizational
affiliations or memberships in such a way as to
avoid misunderstanding
regarding sponsorship
or certification. They also
avoid the use of any
institutional affiliation to
recruit private practice
clients.
Many members of the public do not fully understand issues related to sponsorship and recruitment.
Counsellors should make every attempt to avoid
misunderstandings:
• Counsellors and consultants do not engage,
directly of through agents, in recruiting
additional business from clients;
• Counsellors and consultants do not take
payment for referring clients;
• Counsellors and consultants do not endorse
products in which they have a financial interest;
• Counsellors do not accept consulting contracts
when competing professional relationships
(legal, personal, financial) could impair their
objectivity;
45
Standards of Practice
• Counsellors should not advertise association
with an established organization when they
have only worked a short period of time for the
organization;
• Counsellors should not use membership in a
professional organization on a business card, if
the membership is intended to imply endorsement as a counsellor; and,
• Canadian Counsellor Certification (CCC)
shows that a counsellor has met certain training
criteria, and “CCC” can be used on business
cards and letterhead.
Private Practice Records
Counselling records, client names, and other personal
client information should not be provided or
included in the sale of a professional practice unless
there is informed consent from clients to do so.
Services at the Request of Third Parties
When counsellors are requested by a third party to
provide a service to an individual, organization, or
other entity, they undertake at the outset to clarify:
• The nature of the role expected (i.e., assessor,
expert witness, therapist etc.);
• The relationship with each party;
• The possible uses of information acquired; and,
• Any limits to confidentiality.
Fees and Billing Arrangements
Counsellors make every effort to assist potential
clients and those receiving services in understanding
fee structures and billing arrangements.
• Counsellors present both their fees and billing
for their services in a clear and transparent
manner;
• Counsellors give early attention in their professional relationships to discussing and reaching
an understanding about their fees and billing
practices for any of their professional services;
46 Standards of Practice
• Whenever counsellors anticipate that there may
be a limitation on their services because of some
financial constraint experienced by their client,
or third party payer, it is discussed and clarified
with the client of the service as early as feasible;
and,
• Under no circumstances should counsellors
submit their billing invoice as a surrogate for
professional services provided by another
service provider.
47
Standards of Practice
D. Evaluation and Assessment
CODE OF ETHICS
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
General Orientation
D1
General Orientation
Counsellors adequately
orient and inform clients
so that evaluation and
assessment results can be
placed in proper perspective along with other
relevant information.
Counsellors evaluate and assess clients using a variety
of measures on an ongoing basis. When counsellors
include formal assessment instruments as part of client
services, they provide information about the purposes
of the assessment prior to test administration. This
professional practice allows clients and counsellors
the opportunity to discuss options freely, to support
informed decision making and later, to orient the
client to the evaluation and assessment results, the
meaning of which can then be placed in proper
prospective along with other relevant information.
Counsellors take this responsibility to inform clients
about the purpose of any evaluation and assessment
procedures and the meaning of evaluation and assessment results in a language and at a language level that
the client understands.
D2
Purposes and Results
of Evaluation and
Assessment
Counsellors take responsibility to inform clients
about the purpose of any
evaluation and assessment
instruments and procedures and the meaning of
evaluation and assessment
results.
Counsellors also ensure that any testing used for
counselling purposes generates information which is
relevant to assist clients in self-understanding, and in
making personal, educational, and career decisions.
Counsellors use assessments that are:
• Current and appropriate to the setting;
• Valid and reliable for the counselling purpose;
• Fair and just, taking into consideration the
client’s uniqueness; and,
• Appropriate to the client’s language preference
and competence.
Counsellors focus on respecting the rights of clients
and their best interests when they use, interpret, and
develop evaluation and assessment instruments and
procedures.
Counsellors share with clients, in client-appropriate
language, the test results and interpretation, and
any information about the degree of confidence
which can be placed in them. They ensure clients
48 Standards of Practice
understand the context of results in connection to
other assessment measures such as:
• Discussions during counselling sessions with the
client;
• Clinical interviews;
• Discussions with family members, employers,
teachers and other informants;
• Observational data; and,
• Client self-reports.
D3
Evaluation and Assessment Competence
Counsellors who administer, interpret, and use the
results of evaluation and assessment instruments and
procedures do so only when they have the relevant
and appropriate education, training, and supervised
Counsellors recognize the experience. This applies to all testing, and particularly
limits of their competence to projective tests and tests of personality, neuropsychological functioning, and individual tests of
and offer only those
evaluation and assessment intelligence.
Counsellors follow established psychometric and
services for which they
have appropriate prepara- evaluative procedures when adapting, developing,
distributing, or using evaluation and assessment
tion and which meet
instruments and procedures.
established professional
Evaluation and
Assessment
Competence
standards.
Counsellors accept responsibility for conducting
formal mental health status and custody evaluations
only when they have expertise in those areas of evaluation and only when they are prepared to appear as a
witness, should they be required to do so.
Counsellors provide evaluation and assessment
services to individuals whose differences of age, disabling condition, language and culture are within their
competence to do so by virtue of appropriate education, or supervised experience.
Counsellors report the strengths and limitations of test
results in cases where the validity and reliability of a
test instrument is not established for particular clients
(such as certain minority populations, particular age
groups, and specific linguistic or cultural groups).
49
Standards of Practice
D4
Administrative and Supervisory Conditions
Administrative and
Supervisory Conditions
Counsellors ensure adequate supervision of the
administration of tests and other assessment instruments and procedures except when they are specially
designed and clearly intended for self-administration.
Counsellors ensure that
evaluation and assessment
instruments and procedures are administered
and supervised under
established conditions
consistent with professional standards. They
note any departures from
standard conditions and
any unusual behaviour or
irregularities which may
affect the interpretation
of results.
Counsellors refrain from using evaluation and assessment instruments and procedures that may reasonably have the potential to produce harmful or invalid
results due to situations such as:
• Conditions contrary to the test administration
manual requirements;
• A client’s recent exposure to test items;
• Test anxiety (when the instrument is not
designed to detect anxiety);
• Stress, injury, or environmental conditions
(for which the test is not designed to detect,
[e.g., conducting an aptitude test following a
major accident or recent death of a parent]); or,
• Information suggesting test results will be used
to violate the fundamental rights of the client
or others.
Counsellors permit persons whom they supervise to
use only evaluation and assessment instruments and
procedures for which they are competent, and such
persons have a similar obligation to practice within
their area of competence. However, in training environments, students with the prerequisite preparation
and with close supervision may administer instruments as part of their progression to full competence.
Counsellors avoid duality of relationships when
they agree to conduct independent evaluations or
assessments. For example, counsellors refrain from
conducting custody evaluations when they have a
prior or current relationship with the children and/or
their guardians.
50 D5
Use of Technology
Counsellors recognize that
their ethical responsibilities are not altered, or in
any way diminished, by
the use of technology
for the administration of
evaluation and assessment
instruments. Counsellors
retain their responsibility
for the maintenance of
the ethical principles of
privacy, confidentiality,
and responsibility for
decisions regardless of the
technology used.
Standards of Practice
Use of Technology in Assessment and
Evaluation
Counsellors recognize that their ethical responsibilities for counselling remain intact when using
technology, and that there are additional risks associated with the use of technology in the administration, scoring, interpretation, and evaluation of test
instruments.
Ultimately, it is the counsellor who is responsible for
the selection, administration, scoring and interpretation of test instruments, whether or not technology is
used. To address the unique risks associated with the
use of technology, it is important that counsellors:
• Ensure clients understand the test requirements,
can use the computer equipment required to
complete a computer-generated test instrument,
and have no personal factors that would render
such a mode of testing inappropriate;
• Ensure the computer and associated technology
are in good working order;
• Supervise clients when a computer-generated
test instrument is being used (unless the
instrument is specifically designed as a selfadministered test);
• Adhere to copyright and other intellectual
property rights when using computer-generated
tests, results and interpretations;
• Inform clients of the process that will be used
for scoring test results;
• Obtain appropriate authorization from the client
to transmit information to an automated or
external scoring service; and,
• Document the source of the results when
reporting.
Whenever automated, web-linked or external test
scoring and interpretation services are used to determine results of a test instrument, counsellors only use
reputable companies and programs that ensure client
confidentiality and that provide evidence of valid
and reliable scoring and interpretation procedures.
Standards of Practice
51
Counsellors also retain responsibility for professionally assessing the electronic evaluations to detect any
results that seem inadequate or erroneous.
D6
Appropriateness of Evaluation and
Assessment
Counsellors should review any available information
on the reliability, validity, and the reference group,
for any assessment instruments or procedures as part
of determining their appropriateness for use with an
Counsellors ensure that
individual or group.
evaluation and assessment
Counsellors take steps to ensure that tests, when
instruments and proceused, are relevant and appropriate to assessment and
dures are valid, reliable,
decision making processes, and that they are not used
and appropriate to both
the client and the intended to support or to defend recommendations, evaluations, and other decisions that should be based on
purposes.
other criteria.
Appropriateness of
Evaluation and
Assessment
Counsellors use multiple sources of information rather than relying on a single measure when
assessing clients’ abilities, skills, and general
attributes.
Counsellors accurately describe all criteria used in an
evaluation process and are prepared to provide the
rationale for selecting any and all of the criteria.
Counsellors use evaluation and assessment instruments and procedures to classify individuals into
various groups, such as therapeutic or educational
programs, only when they can demonstrate that the
instruments and procedures used have the capacity to
reliably support such differential selections.
Counsellors recognize that substantial alterations to
assessment instruments or adaptations to procedures
in terms of administration, language, or content
may invalidate them, and before using an altered or
adapted instrument, they must be confident that no
such invalidation has occurred.
52 D10
Sensitivity to
Diversity when
Assessing and
Evaluating
Counsellors proceed with
caution when judging and
interpreting the performance of minority group
members and any other
persons not represented
in the group on which the
evaluation and assessment
instruments and procedures were standardized.
They recognize and take
into account the potential
effects of age, ethnicity,
disability, culture, gender,
religion, sexual orientation,
and socio-economic status
on both the administration
of, and the interpretation
of data from, such instruments and procedures.
Standards of Practice
Sensitivity to Diversity When Assessing and
Evaluating
Each standardized assessment and evaluation
test instrument has a specific focus and typically
uses norms that are based on large populations.
Counsellors must be cautious when judging and
interpreting the performance or test results of
minority group members and any other persons not
represented in the group on which the evaluation
and assessment instruments and procedures were
standardized.
For instance, counsellors ensure that when an assessment instrument or procedure is translated from one
language to another, its reliability and validity for
the intended purpose in the new language group is
established.
Counsellors must also take into account the potential
effects of such unique factors as:
• Age;
• Culture/ethnicity;
• Language preference/language level;
• Disability/chronic or underlying illnesses
or conditions;
• Gender/sexual orientation;
• Religion;
• History; and,
• Socio-economic background.
Counsellors typically use more than one method
of assessing and evaluating all clients. When clients
belong to a minority group or clients who require
sensitivity to their diversity, it is essential to consider
multiple assessment methods.
When counsellors use assessment instruments and
procedures to assist with decisions related to work
assignment, career advancement, eligibility for school
programs or training opportunities, and so forth, they
must be confident of the appropriateness and differential power of the instruments and procedures to
contribute to such decisions.
Standards of Practice
D7
Reporting Evaluation
and Assessment
Results
53
Reporting Evaluation and Assessment
Results
A major role of counsellors following the administration of an assessment and evaluation instrument, is
to report on results in a meaningful way for clients.
Counsellors ensure that
Counsellors take care in their language use and
when reporting evaluation
select a language level that facilitates a discussion of
and assessment results
findings. Counsellors take steps to ensure that score
to clients and other
profiles, test report forms, including computerized
individuals, care is taken to
reports and materials, are clear and provide approprovide, in an appropriate
priate interpretations based on known information.
manner, accurate and
sufficient information
for an understanding
of any conclusions and
recommendations made,
and to identify the basis
for any reservations that
may exist.
When counsellors provide interpretations of subscores, score differences, or score profiles, they
should provide sufficient information to justify such
interpretations.
When counsellors use computerized scoring and/
or interpretations of assessment results, they
retain undiminished responsibility for the accuracy of the scoring and the appropriateness of the
interpretations.
Counsellors accept responsibility for the accuracy
of their statements with respect to evaluation and
assessment information, and they avoid knowingly
contributing to unwarranted assumptions about
such information and about the use and potential of
assessment instruments and procedures.
D8
Release of Evaluation and Assessment Data
Release of Evaluation
and Assessment Data
Counsellors adhere to provincial and federal law
when releasing evaluation and assessment data to
other professionals, the courts, external agencies, and
clients. Additionally, counsellors follow policies and
procedures within their employment setting when
determining to whom data may be released.
Counsellors ensure that
evaluation and assessment data are released
appropriately and only
to the client and persons
qualified to interpret and
use them properly.
Prior to the administration of an assessment and
evaluation test instrument, counsellors arrange for
a release to be signed by the client that includes to
whom data may be released and whether third party
disclosure of results is acceptable.
Clearly, counsellors may choose to not release test data.
Some situations that may precipitate this choice are:
54 Standards of Practice
• Potential for harm to the client or others;
• Potential for misuse of the data;
• There is no client release and no requirement by
law or court order; or,
• No qualified person is available to receive and
use the information for the benefit of the client.
Counsellors do release test data:
• As a condition of the client’s right to personal
health information and/or as articulated in a
release form;
• As a condition of their internship training or
clinical supervision;
• In accordance with the law in response to
attorney requests, subpoenas, and court orders;
• As a condition of an investigation into the
conduct of the counsellor; or,
• To consult with another professional, while
protecting the privacy and maintaining the
confidentiality of the client.
At all times, counsellors consider the best interests of
the client whenever releasing data, and make every
attempt to ensure clear understanding of information
and its implications.
D9
Integrity of Evaluation and Assessment
Instruments
Integrity of
Counsellors take every precaution to ensure that the
Evaluation and
integrity of evaluation and assessment instruments
Assessment Instruments and Procedures is maintained. Some common strategies to safeguard
psychological tests and other assessment instruments
Counsellors who use
are listed below.
psychological tests and
other assessment instruments, the value of which
depends on their novelty
to the client, ensure that
they are limited to and
safeguarded by those with
the professional interest
and competence to do so.
• Maintain strict test security protocols.
• Select test instruments that have parallel versions.
• Administer tests only under prescribed standardized conditions.
• When all modes are equal, select the assessment
and evaluation method that allows for test-retest
possibilities.
• Release only test results; never test materials.
55
Standards of Practice
• Disallow duplication of test materials or recordings of assessment sessions that may reach the
public domain.
Clients who have familiarity with test items or who
have been coached on test items or techniques have
an unfair advantage that affects the validity and reliability of test results. Counsellors take ethical steps to
protect test security and do not release to test-takers,
parents, or to others, test items, scoring protocols, or
any other testing material.
Tests administered through the Internet are particularly vulnerable to breaches of integrity. Additional
precautions should be taken to ensure that tests
conducted over the Internet have maintained their
reliability and validity.
D11
Security Maintenance
Counsellors ensure the
integrity and security of
evaluation and assessment instruments and
procedures consistent with
any legal and contractual
obligations. They refrain
from appropriating,
reproducing, or modifying
established evaluation and
assessment instruments
without the expressed
permission and adequate
recognition of the original
author, publisher, and
copyright holder.
Security Maintenance
Manuals, protocols, test instruments, questions,
manipulatives and other assessment and evaluation
materials are kept in a secure and private location.
Counsellors ensure the integrity and security of all
counselling-related materials and files consistent with
legal and contractual obligations.
Counsellors seek permission from copyright holders,
authors and publishers when citing, reproducing,
modifying or adapting materials. Similarly, they
do not violate copyright laws by photocopying or
otherwise duplicating assessment and evaluation
instruments.
Tests administered through the Internet and selfadministered tests require additional security
measures. Unless otherwise stipulated by the test
creator, clients should not be given test instruments
to complete at home.
While counsellors may consult with other professionals and discuss specific test items and results in
order to examine implications for the client, they
protect the security of assessment and evaluation
instruments by discussing matters with professionals
who are bound by their own ethical guidelines.
56 Standards of Practice
E. Research and Publications
CODE OF ETHICS
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
E1
Researcher Responsibility
Researcher
Responsibility
Counsellors who undertake research responsibilities
ensure that they abide by all legislation, regulation,
policies, and procedures that relate to ethical principles and professional standards governing research
with human participants and reporting on research,
particularly the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical
Conduct for Research Involving Humans (2010).
Counsellors plan, conduct,
and report on research in
a manner consistent with
relevant ethical principles,
professional standards
of practice, federal and
provincial laws, institutional regulations, cultural
norms, and standards
governing research with
human subjects.
Counsellors, when planning, conducting, and
reporting on their research are guided by a commitment to the following ethical principles:
• Respect for human dignity;
• Respect for vulnerable persons;
• Respect for informed consent;
• Respect for justice and diversity;
• Respect for confidentiality and privacy; and,
• Respect for the need to minimize harm and to
maximize benefits.
Counsellors who conduct qualitative or mixed
methods research studies recognize the power imbalance between the researcher and the participant(s)
and take special precautions to protect participants.
These precautions may be viewed in Chapter 10 of
the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for
Research Involving Humans (2010).
Although the power imbalance is minimized, participants view the researcher as knowledgeable about the
research process including methods used, sampling,
data collection, analysis of interviews, and the
dissemination of the final product.
Counsellor researchers pay particular attention to
the self-other relationship through the following
practices:
• Conduct reflexive analysis of one’s part in the
research process and identification of how one’s
57
Standards of Practice
beliefs and values, and one’s position, may affect
the research outcomes;
• Ensure transparency of the research process;
• Demonstrate a willingness to change the
research process in response to issues arising
during the research experience;
• Provide descriptions of context that are thick
and favour depth more than breadth;
• Seek comments from participants about their
understanding of the research process;
• Continue to review the consent of participants
throughout the research in order to provide
protection and freedom to choose participation;
and,
• Conduct ongoing checks on informed consent.
Participants frequently make known more about
themselves in qualitative and mixed methods studies
than they would in quantitative studies. Informed
consent is ongoing and renegotiated throughout the
research process including: time of access in the data
collection stage, member-checking stage, and potentially through the analysis stage, as well as in the
publication of findings. Particular attention is paid
to these issues in Chapter 9 of the Tri-Council Policy
Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving
Humans (2010). Three key issues are:
• Issues of representation: how researchers
represent the other in research publications;
• Issues of legitimation or the question of the
researcher’s right to write about others; and,
• Dual role relationships with participants.
The more adept we are at creating a sense of connection and engagement, the more
we need to be attentive to issues of power, influence, coercion, and manipulation. And,
we need to be attentive to crossing the boundary from pursing inquiry to providing
therapy.
(Haverkamp, 2005, p. 152)
58 Standards of Practice
Counsellor researchers pay particular attention to
cultural competence prior to, during, and after their
study. Of particular note are additional requirements for studies related to persons of indigenous
descent. The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical
Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS,
2010) now includes Chapter 9 that emphasizes the
need for researchers to ensure equitable partnerships between the study subjects and the researcher
when the subjects are First Nations, Inuit and Métis
people. The collaborative approach required for
research involving Indigenous persons safeguards
cultural values and contributes to mutually beneficial
research.
E2
Subject Welfare
Counsellors are responsible for protecting the
welfare of their research
subjects during research
and avoid causing
injurious psychological,
physical, or social effects
to persons who participate
in their research activities.
Subject Welfare
Counsellors must carefully assess all anticipated risks
for potential participants in their research studies.
Such risks could include: physical, psychological
(i.e., increased anxiety), social, and economic factors.
Counsellors act to minimize any such consequences
for those who participate in their research projects.
Some helpful questions for counsellors to ask
themselves are:
• Have I approached potential participants in a
fair and non-coercive manner?
• Is the compensation for participation appropriate and reasonable?
• Have I afforded children or persons with
diminished capacity the opportunity to “assent”
to the research?
• Have I offered opportunities to debrief research
results with participants?
• Have I supervised others involved in the
research (e.g., graduate students) in order to
prevent violation of participants’ rights?
59
Standards of Practice
E3
Principal Researcher
Responsibility
Counsellors, when in
the role of principal
researcher, are responsible
for ensuring that appropriate ethical research
practices are followed
and, with respect to
research involving human
subjects, for obtaining
an independent and
appropriate ethical review
before proceeding with
the research. Research
associates involved in the
research activities share
ethical obligations and
full responsibility for their
own actions.
E4
Voluntary
Participation
Counsellors ensure that
participation in research
is voluntary. However,
involuntary participation
may be appropriate when
it can be shown that
participation will have
no harmful effects on
subjects, is essential to the
research, and meets ethical
review requirements.
Informed Consent and Recruitment of
Research Participants
Counsellor researchers should undertake a risk
assessment of their competence to embark on the
research and ensure that sufficient consultations have
taken place about potential ethical issues prior to and
throughout the research process.
Counsellors must submit their research proposals
that involve human subjects to institutional or organizational review boards, and initiate such research
only after approval is granted and in a manner
consistent with the approved research protocols.
In research that requires an extended researcherparticipant relationship or in the case of research
that involves the disclosure of sensitive or disturbing
information, the principal researcher and research
associates seek out ongoing supervision. Voluntary Participation
Counsellor researchers invite individuals to participate without manipulation, undue influence, or
coercion. They consider carefully any impediments
or potential challenges that may accompany participation from the perspective of the subjects prior to
approaching individuals for study. Guidelines for
counsellors to inform and support subjects in freely
choosing to participate are:
• Clarify the rights of participants. Inform them
that their participation is voluntary and should
they consent to participate they may decide not
to continue at any time;
• Inform individuals that a decision not to
participate or to discontinue participation will
be accepted without prejudice and without
affecting pre-existing entitlements to benefits or
services;
• Avoid the excessive use of inducements and
be particularly careful with the use of rewards
related to the participation of children. When
children are involved, and if practical, such
rewards should be given following participation;
and,
60 Standards of Practice
• Avoid exerting pressure or undue influence on
those who might be vulnerable by virtue of their
circumstance or limited competence to give
consent, such as prisoners, patients, children,
individuals with cognitive or neurological
disabilities, and so forth.
Some research, such as archival research, studies
based on Statistics Canada data, and the like, do
not require informed consent, and the availability
of anonymous data can make it impractical to do
so. However, in making such a decision, counsellors
ensure that they respect all relevant regulations and
fulfill any institutional or agency requirements.
Respect for human dignity requires that research involving humans be conducted in a
manner that is sensitive to the inherent worth of all human beings and the respect and
consideration that they are due. In this Policy, respect for human dignity is expressed
through three core principles – Respect for Persons, Concern for Welfare, and Justice.
…. These principles are complementary and interdependent.
(Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2010, p. 14)
E5
Informed Consent
Counsellors inform all
research subjects of
the purpose(s) of their
research. In addition,
subjects are made aware
of any experimental
procedures, possible risks,
disclosures and limitations
on confidentiality. Subjects
are also informed that they
are free to ask questions
and to discontinue at
any time.
Research and Counsellor Education
Counsellor educators understand the status and
power differential between themselves and their
students. They avoid, whenever possible, any dual
relationship with students who participate in their
research projects. Any duality of relationships should
be recognized, acknowledged, and managed in a
manner that clarifies the various roles and responsibilities and avoids any disadvantage to students.
When students in counsellor education programs
agree to participate as research associates or assistants
to research projects managed by counsellor educators, the primary researcher should:
• Initiate an open discussion to clarify expectations prior to beginning a working relationship
on the research;
• Clarify roles and responsibilities, including
any limits to intellectual property and areas of
collaboration;
61
Standards of Practice
• Reach agreement as to the nature of acknowledgments for the completed research work and
for any subsequent publications; and,
• Establish procedures for managing any
problems.
Counsellor educators avoid relating student grades
to research participation unless there are clear and
equivalent alternatives which are fully explained and
just as readily available.
E6
Research and Confidentiality
Research
Confidentiality
Information obtained about participants in the
course of conducting research must be kept confidential. The following guidelines will enable counsellors to manage their research so as to minimize any
threats to confidentiality.
Counsellors ensure that
research information on
subjects is confidential
and the identity of
participants is protected
unless otherwise authorized by them, consistent
with all informed consent
procedures.
• Restrict data collection to information relevant
to the questions and hypotheses being addressed
in the research project.
• Use data coding systems and scoring protocols
that avoid the use of participant names.
• Keep in a secure place all material that could
identify participants, such as test results, audio/
video tapes, computer disks, and reports, and
permit access only to the researcher and his/her
associates.
• Take steps to protect participants’ anonymity
when information from a research study is
being reported or distributed. Any disclosure
that identifies participants is possible only with
the prior consent of the participants, or in the
event of a clear or imminent danger of harm to
self or others.
62 E7
Use of Confidential
Information for
Didactic or Other
Purposes
Standards of Practice
Use of Confidential Information for Didactic
or Other Purposes
Counsellor researchers take appropriate actions
to prevent their data from being released in any
form that allows for participants’ identities to be
known. The use of pseudonyms does not guarantee
Counsellors do not disclose
anonymity. Postal codes and other geographic
in their writings, public
markers applied to case records can be used to idenpresentations, or public
tify individuals. Researchers should ask themselves:
media, any personally
identifiable information
obtained in confidence
about clients, research
participants, students,
or organizational clients
unless
(1) there is legal authorization to do so,
• Is there a way to group data in a way to conceal
identities?
• How can I disguise personal details so that
individuals are not recognizable to others?
Some strategies to protect subject identities include:
• Aggregate data into groups;
• Eliminate personal information; and,
• Develop vignettes or composites.
(2) reasonable steps are
In the case of participants who desire to have their
taken not to identify
identities known, the researcher has the responsibility
the person or organizato present all the potential drawbacks in removing
tion, or
(3) the person or
organizational client
has given informed
written consent.
anonymity; however, the researcher cannot be held
responsible for participants who choose to disclose
their identities.
Clinical case studies that are used as a means of
developing practice-related knowledge and education
for counsellors present particular ethical challenges.
“[T] he rich detail that makes case reports so useful
also makes them subject to complex questions about
the ethics of publishing or otherwise disseminating
them” (Gavey & Braun, 1997, p. 399). The client-therapist relationship demands conscientious attention to
the rights of the client to consent, confidentiality, and
anonymity.
Seeking consent to document a case after an individual has entered counselling requires the counsellor to undertake a thorough risk assessment that
asks the questions, “How free is the client to refuse
in these circumstances? What are the benefits to
the client? How will I monitor the impact of a dual
relationship?”
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Standards of Practice
Some reasonable steps in seeking consent for the use
of case studies include:
• Seek out ongoing consultation with a supervisor
and with the research ethics committee prior to
engaging in research with clients.
• In contacting past clients for permission to use
clinical case materials, ask the question, Will
this process stimulate painful memories or
issues that threaten the client’s ability to be in
command of that experience?
E8
Further Research
Counsellors have an
obligation to collaborate
with colleagues by
making available original
research data to qualified
researchers who may
wish to replicate or verify
research.
E9
Research Sponsors
Counsellors, when
conducting research,
obtain informed consent
from sponsors and
institutions to ensure that
sponsors and institutions
are given feedback
information and proper
acknowledgement.
Further Research
Data presented in raw form for other researchers
to re-analyze or verify must be presented in such a
manner as to protect the anonymity of participants.
While counsellor researchers have an obligation to
assist others by providing them with original data so
that studies may be replicated or research verified,
they also have legal rights pertaining to intellectual
property.
When counsellors release original data to researchers,
they take responsibility for verifying the qualifications and intentions of the researcher requesting
the data.
Research Sponsors
Counsellor researchers offer general feedback on
the progress of research to sponsors if requested,
however the confidentiality of subjects is maintained
at all times.
Regardless of the findings of sponsored research,
researchers have the obligation to release their results
accurately. This obligation ensures academic integrity
and increases the knowledge base of the profession.
It can sometimes require courage when findings are
inconsistent with a particular sponsor’s activity or
research agenda.
Upon completion of the study, researchers provide a
summary of findings and conclusions to the sponsor.
Sponsors are acknowledged in all publications and
presentations.
64 Standards of Practice
E10
Reviewers
Review of
Manuscripts
Counsellors who act as reviewers of research
proposals, manuscripts, books, awards, and the like,
adhere to the expectations regarding confidentiality
and respect the proprietary rights of those whose
work or submissions are being reviewed.
Counsellors who review
material submitted for
publication, research, or
other scholarly purposes
respect the confidentiality
and proprietary rights of
those who submitted the
research.
E11
Reporting Results
In reporting research
results, counsellors
mention any variables
and conditions that
might affect the outcome
of the investigation or
the interpretation of
the results, and provide
information sufficient for
others who might wish to
replicate the research.
Reviews are carried out in a timely manner.
Reviewers endeavour to only review materials that are
within their areas of expertise.
Reporting Results
Counsellors have an obligation to present their
research findings in an accurate manner and in a
language with sufficient disclosure to minimize
misunderstanding.
Counsellors provide sufficient information about
their research to enable those who might wish to
replicate their study to do so.
Counsellors, when disseminating the results of
research on sensitive issues, take steps to minimize
misinterpretation or to avoid inappropriate exploitation by those with a political agenda.
Counsellors have the courage and obligation to
present their research findings even when they
are incompatible with their own beliefs, or when
they may run counter to institutional, social, or
programmatic practices, or to prevailing interest and
ideologies.
If, upon publication, counsellors determine that
errors have been made in their published research,
steps are taken to correct such errors, for example, in
a correction erratum.
65
Standards of Practice
E12
Research Contributions
Research
Contributions
Counsellor researchers often collaborate in
conducting research and in publishing results of
research. When there are multiple authors, counsellors ensure that due credit is given to all individuals
who contributed to the research.
Counsellors give due
credit through joint
authorship, acknowledgement, footnote
statements, or other
appropriate means to
those who have contributed significantly to the
research and/or publication, and to those who
have done previous work
on the topic. For an article
that is based mainly on a
student thesis or dissertation, the student is listed
as principal author.
Some methods of acknowledging contributions
include:
• Joint authorship;
• Footnote statements;
• Formal acknowledgement pages; and,
• Textual references to prior work on the topic.
Authorship issues can arise at any time during the
process of conducting research and publishing findings. Some helpful strategies to resolve issues related
to appropriate authorship are:
• Instigate student and faculty member meetings
to discuss authorship prior to the research
project or writing of an article not based on
thesis or dissertation. Questions to ask include:
When the study is completed and getting ready
to be published, who should be the authors and
in what order will their names appear? How can
multiple authors be acknowledged and how is
order determined?
• Ideas to resolve conflict could include: putting
the names of all co-authors in alphabetical
order.
• Designate no major contributor. Instead, rotate
the names of co-authors on a series of articles.
66 Standards of Practice
E13
Submission for Publication
Submission for
Publication
Counsellors submit a manuscript for publication to
one journal at a time. Identical or essentially identical
manuscripts that have been previously published
in whole or in substantial part must be submitted
with acknowledgement to and the permission of the
previous publication in which they were published.
Counsellors do not submit
the same manuscript or
one essentially similar in
content for simultaneous
publication consideration
by two or more journals.
In addition, manuscripts
published in whole or in
substantial part in another
journal or published work
should not be submitted
for publication without
acknowledgement and
permission from the
previous publication.
In situations where more than one author is involved
in the creation of a manuscript, each author is
responsible for maintaining communication with the
other author(s) to ensure ethical submission of the
manuscript.
67
Standards of Practice
F. Clinical Supervision, Counsellor Education and Training
CODE OF ETHICS
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
F1
General Responsibility
This article is a broad statement imploring counsellor
educators and clinical supervisors to respect the
people whom they educate, train, and supervise, and
Counsellors who are
to adhere to all the articles and standards outlined
responsible for counsellor
in the CCPA Code of Ethics and Standards of
education, training and
Practice. Counsellor educators and clinical supervisupervision adhere to
sors must constantly work towards improved selfcurrent CCPA guidelines
understanding in order to eliminate blind spots, and
and standards with respect to minimize needs for personal control and power.
General
Responsibility
to such activities and
conduct themselves in a
manner consistent with
the CCPA Code of Ethics
and Standards of Practice.
a) Counsellors-in-Training
Some of the general responsibilities and issues
for counsellor educators and heads of counselling
departments include:
• Counsellor educators are responsible for the
development of the counselling program and
should make every attempt to fulfill the requirements for CCPA accreditation;
• Counsellor educators ensure that the counsellor
education program includes courses and
practica that prepare counsellors in self-awareness, knowledge of counselling and counselling
skills;
• Counsellor educators responsible for the
counselling program ensure that the courses
and practica meet those criteria required by
future employers, fulfill counsellor certification
requirements, and meet the requirements
for membership in professional counselling
organizations;
• Counsellor educators infuse multicultural and
diversity competencies into their education and
supervision practises;
• Counsellor educators are committed to
recruiting and retaining diverse faculty and
students;
68 Standards of Practice
• Since students are vulnerable during training,
education, and supervision due to power
differences, intimate and personal relationships
between counsellor educators and students are
inappropriate, and social relationships must be
managed in a manner which will not compromise the primary professional relationship;
• Counsellor educators give full credit to students
for their contributions to research and scholarship;
• Counsellor educators who supervise students
should be prepared in the concepts and methods
of supervision;
• Counsellors-in-training should receive on-going
performance appraisal throughout their
counselling program;
• Students are entitled to remedial assistance
should they experience difficulties in their
counselling program;
• Students who are unable to demonstrate
adequate competence in counselling due to
academic or personal limitations should not
continue in counsellor education; and,
• Prior to training, students should be made aware
of the methods of evaluation and the competency level expected.
b) Counsellors-in-Practice:
Some of the general responsibilities and issues for
clinical supervisors working with counsellors-inpractice include:
• Clinical supervisors ensure that their qualifications and supervisory activities meet those
criteria required by future employers, fulfill any
applicable statutory regulation requirements, and
have membership in professional counselling
organizations;
• Clinical supervisors must have a strong foundation
and broad perspective on the counselling and
psychotherapy profession and its diverse modalities;
• Clinical supervisors infuse multicultural and
diversity competencies into their supervision
practises;
69
Standards of Practice
• Clinical supervisors must have a breadth
and depth of experience in counselling and
psychotherapy;
• A contract stipulating the supervisory activities,
conditions, duration, and expectations should
be negotiated prior to commencing a supervisory relationship; and,
• Clinical supervisors should address any conflicts
of interest (such as being in a position of
authority over the supervisee) and adhere to all
CCPA Codes of Ethics pertaining to multiple
relationships prior to engaging in a supervisory
relationship.
Supervisors of counselling practitioners must be imbued with the empathy, openness,
and flexibility expected of the counselling and psychotherapy profession. The respect
for and sensitivity to the unique and specific complexities of each supervisee is a moral
imperative when one takes on the role of supervisor.
(Shepard & Martin, 2012, p. 30)
Boundaries of Competence
F2
Boundaries of
Competence
Counsellors who conduct
counsellor education,
training and supervision
have the necessary knowledge and skills to do so,
and limit their involvement
to such competencies.
Clinical supervisors and counsellor educators
should be competent teachers as well as successful
practitioners who can demonstrate their counselling skills and give examples of counselling effectiveness. Furthermore, counsellor educators and
clinical supervisors should limit their involvement
to areas of competency. These areas of competency
include:
• Awareness of ethical issues and ethical
responsibilities;
• Skill in counselling practice;
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of
counselling;
• Maintenance of an on-going research program
(counsellor-educators) or research agenda
(clinical supervisors) that increases supervisory
competencies;
• Regular participation in counselling conferences
and workshops; and,
70 Standards of Practice
• Knowledge of, and sensitivity to, multicultural
and diversity issues.
Ethical Orientation
F3
Ethical Orientation
Counsellors who are
responsible for counsellor
education, training and
supervision have an
obligation to make their
students, trainees, and
supervisees aware of the
ethical responsibilities as
expressed in the CCPA
Code of Ethics and
Standards of Practice.
a) Counsellors-in-Training:
Counsellor educators have the responsibility of making
counselling students aware of legal principles and their
ethical responsibilities as expressed in the CCPA Code
of Ethics. Additionally, the six principles (beneficence, fidelity, autonomy, nonmaleficence, justice and
social interest) on which the Code is based should be
examined and understood, and the processes of ethical
decision making should be studied and practiced. As
well, issues surrounding multiple relationships should
be discussed and understood.
Specifically, it is the responsibility of counsellor
educators to:
• Provide specific course work in counselling
ethics that includes a wide range of ethical issues
and not just those that might arise as part of
clinical supervision;
• Make students aware that they are responsible
for their own ethical behaviour;
• Ensure that students have the CCPA Code of
Ethics and Standards of Practice booklet;
• Introduce students to ethical decision-making
processes that take into consideration counsellor
differences, diversity of clients, counselling
settings and legal issues; and,
• Infuse the study of ethics into all courses in
counselling, so that students recognize the
importance of ethics in all aspects of counselling.
b) Counsellors-in-Practice:
• Similar to counsellor educators, clinical supervisors have the same responsibility of raising
their professional awareness of legal principles
and ethical responsibilities as expressed in the
CCPA Code of Ethics. Additionally, the six
principles (beneficence, fidelity, autonomy,
nonmaleficence, justice and social interest) on
which the Code is based should be examined
71
Standards of Practice
and understood, and the processes of ethical
decision making should be practiced. As well,
issues surrounding multiple relationships
should be discussed and understood.
Specifically, it is the responsibility of clinical
supervisor to:
• Remind supervisees of their responsibility for
their own ethical behaviour;
• Ensure that supervisees have the CCPA Code of
Ethics and Standards of Practice booklet; and,
• Infuse ethical decision-making processes into
supervisory discussions, consultations, and
other activities.
Clarification of Roles and Responsibilities
F4
a) Counsellors-in-training:
Clarification of Roles
and Responsibilities
Before the counsellor education of students begins,
counsellor educators, trainers and supervisors should
state clearly to students their respective responsibilities and obligations. This should include taking
action to address issues such as:
Counsellors who engage
in counselling supervision
take responsibility for
clarifying their respective
roles and obligations.
• Clarify the power differential between
counsellor educators and students. Some
non-professional relationships can be beneficial
and need to be discussed. Examples of possible
positive interactions include providing support
during stressful situations and membership in
professional organizations;
• Clarify the supervisor’s responsibility to the
supervisee and to her/his clients. This should
include the boundaries and responsibilities for
the supervisor should there be serious concerns
about the nature or quality of the counselling
service being supervised. Opportunities
for securing remedial assistance should be
discussed;
• Clarify the levels of counselling competence
expected from students and the methods of
appraisal and evaluation;
• Address the requirement for not grading selfdisclosure and self-growth activities;
72 Standards of Practice
• Articulate the need to supervise trainees
regularly to review their counselling work;
• Clarify the inappropriateness of romantic
interactions or relationships between supervisors/counsellor educators and students;
• Mention any limits on confidentiality, including
the supervisor’s obligation for statutory
reporting, such as in the case of child abuse;
• Indicate the type of information that will be
reported to the supervisor’s employer, educational institution, training centre or licensing
agency; and,
• Describe the privacy rights of all counsellorsin-training. Trainees should not be required
to disclose personal information unless the
requirement is identified in admissions materials
or the material is necessary to obtain assistance
for the trainee.
b) Counsellors-in-practice:
Before clinical supervision begins, supervisors should
state clearly to supervisees their respective responsibilities and obligations. This should include taking
action to address issues such as:
• Clarify the collaborative nature of clinical
supervision across the career span. Some
non-professional relationships can be beneficial
and need to be discussed. Examples of possible
positive interactions include providing support
during stressful situations and membership in
professional organizations;
• Clarify the clinical supervisor’s responsibility to
the supervisee and to her/his clients. This should
include the boundaries and responsibilities for
the supervisor should there be serious concerns
about the nature or quality of the counselling service being supervised. Opportunities
for securing remedial assistance should be
discussed;
• Articulate the need to engage in clinical supervision regularly to review counselling work;
73
Standards of Practice
• Clarify the inappropriateness of romantic
interactions or relationships between clinical
supervisors and their supervisees;
• Mention any limits on confidentiality, including
the clinical supervisor’s obligation for statutory
reporting, such as in the case of child abuse;
• Indicate the type of information (if any) that
will be reported to the supervisee’s employer or
licensing authority; and,
• Describe the privacy rights of all counsellorsin-practice. Supervisees should not be required
to disclose personal information unless the
requirement is necessary to obtain assistance for
the supervisee.
Welfare of Clients
F5
a) Counsellors-in-Training:
Welfare of Clients
Counsellor educators must at all times keep in mind
that they are ultimately responsible for the actions of
their supervisees, and the welfare of clients must be a
main concern. As supervisors, counsellor educators
are in a good position to model not only appropriate
counselling, but also ethical, legal and professional
standards of practice. To ensure the welfare of clients,
counsellor educators should provide:
Counsellors who engage
in counselling supervision
take steps to ensure the
welfare of clients during
the supervised practice
period, and intervene,
when necessary, to ensure
that this obligation is met.
• Detailed instruction on the CCPA Code of
Ethics, ethical decision making processes and
Standards of Practice;
• Regular, timely supervision of students;
• Standards for the evaluation of students; and,
• Supervisory sessions for students regarding all
of the clients that the student is counselling.
b) Counsellors-in-Practice:
Clinical supervisors ensure that they have created a
supportive supervisory relationship that includes a
supervision contract that provides:
• Adherence to the CCPA Code of Ethics, ethical
decision making processes and Standards of
Practice;
• Regular, timely supervision;
74 Standards of Practice
• Standards for the services being rendered and
requisite professional disclosure permissions to
allow pertinent information sharing; and,
• Procedures related to monitoring for competency deficits and/or professional impairment.
Program Orientation
F6
Program Orientation
Counsellors responsible
for counsellor education
programs and training
activities take responsibility to orient prospective
students and trainees
to all core elements
of such programs and
activities, including to a
clear policy with respect
to all supervised practice
components, both those
simulated and real.
Department and counselling program chairpersons
and counsellor educators responsible for the counselling program must orient future and current students
to the nature of the counselling program. Counsellor
educators provide prospective students and counsellors-in-training with information on:
• Admission requirements, including not only
minimum admission requirements, but typical
grades and other criteria that recently admitted
students obtained;
• Orientation before the program begins in order
to acquaint students with all elements of the
counselling program;
• A detailed description of all elements and activities of the counselling program, including a clear
policy on supervised practice components, both
simulated and real;
• Complete descriptions of program and course
expectations. The course outlines would
indicate not only the nature of the course, but
the teaching format, assignments and grading
system. These descriptions would include the
type and level of counselling skills, attitudes
and knowledge required for completion of the
counselling program;
• Current employment opportunities for
counselling graduates;
• Policies on evaluation, remediation, dismissal
and due process;
• Information on the various supervision settings
available and the practica requirements for the
various sites, including ongoing performance
appraisal and scheduling of supervision and
evaluation sessions;
75
Standards of Practice
• Ethical issues: students and prospective students
are told that they have the same ethical obligations as counsellors, counsellor educators, and
supervisors;
• Information on program components where
role playing and other simulated activities are
used; and,
• Policies to address serious unresolved personal
issues with implications for students’ counselling competence.
Relational Boundaries
Clear instructions should be provided on the
boundaries among all persons associated with the
Relational Boundaries
supervisory process. For counsellors-in-training, this
Counsellors who work
includes cooperating counsellors at placement sites,
as counsellor educators,
counselling supervisors, and course instructors. For
trainers, and supervisors
counsellors-in-practice, this includes employers and
administrative supervisors. Multiple relationships
establish relationships
should be avoided.
with their students,
F7
trainees and supervisees
such that appropriate
relational boundaries are
clarified and maintained,
and dual relationships
are avoided.
a) Counsellors-in-Training:
Multiple relationships can take many forms,
including personal relationships with supervisees,
and becoming emotionally or sexually involved,
combining the role of counsellor educator and
counsellor, and combining the role of supervisor
and counsellor. These types of relationships can
impair judgement and have the potential for conflicts
of interest.
Other areas where dual or multiple relationships can
result in exploitation or biased judgement include:
• Practica or internships located at the student’s
regular worksite;
• Counselling friends, relatives or associates of
students;
• Having a business or financial relationship with
a student;
• Having a recent casual, distant, electronic, or
past relationship;
• Accepting gifts from students;
76 Standards of Practice
• Counselling students with whom the counsellor
educators have teaching, supervisory or administrative responsibilities; and,
• Experiential components of practica and group
work.
On the other hand, counsellor educators must be
aware of the importance of beneficial interactions
with students. These might include visiting a student
in a hospital or offering support during stressful
times.
b) Counsellors-in-Practice:
As with counsellors-in-training, dual or multiple relationships can result in exploitation or biased judgement with counsellors-in-practice. Some of these
areas may also include:
• Supervision by colleagues located at the same
regular worksite;
• Supervision by immediate or extended family;
• Counselling friends, relatives, former or current
partners, or associates of supervisees;
• Having a business or financial relationship with
a supervisee;
• Having a recent casual, distant, electronic, or
past relationship;
• Accepting gifts from supervisees; and,
• Counselling practitioners with whom the
clinical supervisor has supervisory or administrative responsibilities.
When supervising counsellors-in-practice, clinical
supervisors must be aware of relationships that may
include mutual active participation in professional
communities, associations, institutions, or other
entities. Documenting these pre-existing relationships is important to balancing the risks and benefits
of multiple relationships with practitioners and
recognizing their professionalism. Extending counselling boundaries may also occur during the supervision process by offering additional support during
stressful times, using informal networks to access
innovative counselling practices and research, and
77
Standards of Practice
sharing workplace, safety and health information.
When an extension of the counselling boundaries
is considered, clinical supervisors take the professional precaution of re-engaging their supervisee in
discussions such as informed consent and appropriate documentation.
F8
Obligation to Inform
Counsellors who work
as counsellor educators,
trainers, and supervisors
take steps to inform
students, trainees, and
supervisees, at the
beginning of activities
associated with these
roles, of all reasonably
foreseeable circumstances
under which confidentiality
may be breached during
such activities.
Obligation to Inform
Counsellor educators, trainers, and clinical supervisors should inform students, trainees and supervisees
of exceptions to confidentiality. These exceptions
occur when:
• Disclosure is required to prevent clear and
imminent danger to the client or others;
• Legal requirements demand that confidential
material be revealed;
• A child is in need of protection;
• Others are threatened, placed in danger or there
is a potential for harm;
• Secretaries and other professionals have access
to files;
• Clinical supervisors listen to or view recordings
of supervisees’ counselling sessions;
• Consulting with other professionals; and,
• Counselling information is given to parents or
legal guardians.
Students, trainees, and supervisees should recognize
that there are limits to confidentiality in the process
of supervision. These include:
• Non-adherence to the CCPA Code of Ethics
and Standards of Practice and non-acceptance
of policies at a counselling placement setting;
• Revelations that would require the supervisor to
act on the duty to warn; and,
• Disclosure of unresolved personal issues that
have clear implications for student counselling
competence.
78 F9
Standards of Practice
Self-Development and Self-Awareness
Self-Development and Opportunities should be provided for supervisees to
relate their professional practice to relevant counselSelf-Awareness
ling theory; relevant cultural, historic, environmental
Counsellors who work
and community contexts; and to participate in reflecas counsellor educators,
tive activities intended to promote personal developtrainers, and supervisors,
ment, insight and self-awareness as individuals in
encourage and facilitate
a helping profession. Such activities could include
the self-development and participation in:
self-awareness of students,
trainees, and supervisees,
so that they learn to
integrate their professional
practice and personal
insight.
• Growth/sensitivity groups
• Human relations and communications courses
• Individual counselling
• Social justice and mediation training
• Meditative retreats
• Healing circles
• Cultural awareness courses and groups
• Travel
• Volunteering
• Working with a wide variety of people in diverse
environments.
In order to decrease the risk of psychological distress,
burnout, and vicarious trauma, supervisees must
practice self-care by setting appropriate boundaries. This is of particular importance to supervisees
working in small communities who are in regular
contact with local residents when not in their professional role. Because rural-, remote-, and northernbased counsellors tend to be isolated from professional development opportunities and ongoing
face-to-face supervision, continuing education,
debriefing with peers or consultants, and supervision
can be accessed through electronic means.
Dealing with Personal Issues
a) Counsellors-in-Training:
Counsellor educators do not counsel counsellorsin-training. Nonetheless, they do have an important responsibility to educate supervisees regarding
appropriate pathways to self-care and prevention of
impairment.
Standards of Practice
F10
Dealing with Personal
Issues
Counsellors responsible
for counsellor education,
training, and supervision
recognize when such
activities evoke significant
personal issues for
students, trainees, and
supervisees and refer to
other sources when necessary to avoid counselling
those for whom they hold
administrative or evaluative responsibility.
79
Counsellor educators should convey positive attitudes about students’ participation in personal
therapy. When counsellors-in-training have personal
issues that would benefit from counselling, counsellor educators and supervisors should provide these
trainees with acceptable counsellor resources.
Sometimes, multiple relationships are not clearly
unethical. For example, in smaller counsellor
education programs, counselling supervisors may
be advisors, teachers and supervisors. If this situation can not be avoided, great care must be taken by
counsellor educators to explain the expectations and
responsibilities for each role.
b) Counsellors-in-Practice:
Clinical supervisors do not counsel supervisees.
When supervisees have personal issues that would
benefit from counselling, clinical supervisors should
provide these practitioners with pertinent counsellor
resources, including self-care opportunities.
It is important to note that some potential dual
relationships are not clearly unethical. For example,
in smaller communities, clinical supervisors may
be neighbours, former advisors, former teachers
and colleagues. When multiple relationships cannot
be avoided, clinical supervisors must be diligent in
articulating the expectations, responsibilities, and
boundaries for the supervisor and supervisee.
Self-Growth Activities
Counsellor education programs delineate the nature
and type of self-growth activities in their admissions
and counselling program materials. Self-growth
activities provide students with opportunities to
examine themselves in relation to the counselling
profession and should provide insight on their counselling and work with clients and others.
Levels of self-disclosure should not be linked to
evaluation and grades. As well, students should be
told that some disclosures might require counsellor
educators or supervisors to act on ethical obligations.
80 F11
Standards of Practice
A few examples of self-growth activities are:
Self-Growth Activities
• Volunteering
Counsellors who work
as counsellor educators,
trainers, and supervisors,
ensure that any professional experiences which
require self-disclosure, and
engagement in self-growth
activities are managed in
a manner consistent with
the principles of informed
consent, confidentiality,
and safeguarding against
any harmful effects.
• Member of a growth group
• Human relations courses
• Multicultural groups
• Family reconstruction sessions
• Role plays
• Psychodramas
Self-growth and professional learning extends beyond
the classroom and counselling programs. Continuing
education and personal care is a general responsibility of all counsellors (see A5). Engaging in ongoing
clinical supervision throughout one’s career is
considered best practice in the counselling profession.
It contributes to self-efficacy, increases competency
development opportunities, supports personal wellbeing, and provides essential networking possibilities;
all of which is supportive of safe, effective, timely, and
current service delivery for clients.
Standards of Practice
81
G. Guidelines for Dealing with Subpoenas and
Court Orders
Counsellors may receive formal notice from a court to provide information. Such notices are either subpoenas or court orders. A subpoena is a legal
command to provide information or to give testimony at a hearing or trial.
Sometimes it can require both testimony and disclosure of specific documents.
This is called subpoena duces tecum. Lawyers have to make an application
to the court in order to obtain subpoenas and they must specify clearly the
information being requested and why they deem it relevant to the particular
case. Subpoenas are sometimes part of a ‘discovery’ search for information
which may prove helpful to a hearing or trial. Court orders are orders issued by
a judge presiding at a hearing or trial. Such orders must be responded to right
away. A challenge to a court order would require an appeal to a higher court
and this would obviously require legal assistance. Not all requests for information from legal counsel are subpoenas. It is important for counsellors to discern
formal notices from court versus requests for information.
In Canada, unlike the United States, there is no counsellor-client privilege.
There is virtually no information generated within counselling relationships
which is outside the reach of the courts. However, judges are typically sensitive
to counsellors’ ethical responsibilities to protect their clients’ confidentiality,
and do not require a breach confidentiality unless there are compelling reasons
to do so. Judges often apply the Wigmore criteria to enable them to adjudicate
whether the breaching of confidentiality is warrant in a particular instance.
The following guidelines, although not legal advice, may prove helpful should
counsellors receive a subpoena or court order.
• Always make a timely response to subpoenas and court orders.
Counsellors are encouraged to consult with a lawyer before making any
release of ‘subpoenaed’ information. Counsellors are also reminded that a
decision to comply with such requests will not leave them legally vulnerable to a charge of breach of confidentiality. Nevertheless, disclosure
should be restricted to only the information requested and disclosing
additional information may be seen as a confidentiality violation. Also,
counsellors who are required to testify should not bring client records
unless explicitly told to do so.
• If counsellors work for an employer, they should inform the appropriate
manager when they receive a subpoena or court order. They may also be
eligible to access employer-supported legal assistance if needed.
• Never destroy information in response to a subpoena or court order or to
an expectation of receiving one. Such conduct, if proven, may be judged
as obstruction of justice or contempt of court.
82 Standards of Practice
• Counsellors should consult their clients when in receipt of a subpoena
or court order. After all, ‘confidentiality’ belongs to the client not to the
counsellor. Therefore, arguments advanced to court by a client or by the
client’s lawyer may receive a more sympathetic hearing. For example, a
client may have reason to object to the scope of a subpoena.
• Be reluctant to disclose third party information from a record, such as
reports from other professionals. If this information is requested, then a
subpoena may need to be issued to the person(s) who wrote the report.
Through consultation with the individual issuing the subpoena or court order,
it is sometimes possible to have a summary of a client record accepted rather
than the complete record. In any case, copies of records are usually acceptable
rather than the originals.
Sometimes there are requests for informational disclosure which may have
significant negative consequences. For example, court disclosure of test items,
psychometric protocol, and other testing data may seriously affect the validity
of a test and its integrity as a psychometric instrument. This is the type of
request to which counsellors may decide to resist compliance but, nevertheless, they will need to make a formal response indicating the rationale
for any concerns. It is appropriate to seek legal counsel in advancing any
such objections the court. There are a number of court decisions in Canada
which support the withholding of such psychometric information. However,
lawyers are best equipped to assist in presenting such legally based arguments.
Sometimes through negotiations with the requestor of the subpoena, a counsellor’s concerns about the disclosure of certain information will be respected and
more restricted boundaries set for the request.
There may be compelling reasons for counsellors, in response to a particular
subpoena, to file a motion to have it cancelled or modified. This will require the
assistance of a lawyer. Also, counsellors may seek the guidance of the court on a
particular subpoena. For example, with respect to a demand for certain psychometric information, counsellors could argue that a disclosure would adversely
affect third party interests such as those of test publishers and the public who
wish to preserve the validity and integrity of certain psychometric instruments.
This too, could result in a more restricted disclosure than initially requested.
Sometimes subpoenas are very broad in order to maximize access to information without much sensitivity to the nature of the information being requested.
In the final analysis, unless there is the likely event of a subpoena or court order
being completely withdrawn, counsellors must comply in a timely manner
with the original or modified subpoena or order, with or without the client’s
consent, or face the prospect of being found in contempt of court.
Standards of Practice
83
H. Guidelines for the Conduct of Custody Evaluations
Child custody evaluations can be a high-risk practice area because they typically occur within an adversarial circumstance in which there is an increased
probability that one or more parties will be dissatisfied by an evaluation report.
Custody evaluations are typically used in legal disputes around a child’s access,
care and relationship with biological, foster and adoptive parent(s), and/or with
any legal guardian. Counsellors are advised to consider the following before
engaging in this practice area, and when conducting these evaluations:
Before engaging in this practice area, members are reminded of their ethical
obligations, as expressed in articles A3 Boundaries of Competence and A4
Supervision and Consultation of the CCPA Code of Ethics and Standards of
Practice, to have the knowledge, skills and supervised practice necessary for
the competent conduct of custody assessments.
Always give priority to the best interests of the child in all custody evaluations.
Ensure that no prior or current relationship with the children and the adults
primarily involved in the custody evaluation remains, other than the role of
evaluator.
Counsellors must provide objective and impartial assessments that must not
be compromised by the perspective of the individuals or agency requesting the
evaluation or those paying for it. Ideally, custody evaluations should be courtordered, or mutually agreed upon by participants.
Secure a signed agreement before beginning the evaluation which clarifies such
aspects as:
• Financial arrangement;
• Who will be seen;
• Time frame; and,
• Who will receive copies of the report.
Counsellors should obtain informed consent from the adults involved and
from older children to the extent possible. This should include informing
participants as to who will receive the report and the associated limits to
confidentiality.
When counsellors, during the course of their custody evaluations, have reasonable grounds to suspect child abuse, they must fulfill their statutory obligations
to report it to the appropriate authorities.
Counsellors should keep complete records of the evaluation process.
Counsellors should restrict comments and recommendations to those that can
be substantiated by the sources of data obtained and the integration of all available information.
84 Standards of Practice
Other considerations include:
• Avoid confusing therapeutic and assessment roles;
• Seek to ensure at the outset of the assessment that equal opportunity for
the disputing parties to present their views has been offered;
• Ensure balanced access to the key parties;
• Avoid discussion of events, observations or conclusions until the report is
completed; and,
• Fastidiously record all contacts or events (who, duration, content, etc.).
Standards of Practice
85
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